Sensors, Witches, and Wizards
by Tactition101
Summary: What if Petunia was accepted to Hogwarts along with her sister, not as a witch, but as a sensor? What if she taught Harry about magic at an early age? See what happens when Harry is brought up knowing magic. Update Time Frame is roughly once every eight weeks
1. New Beginnings

Sensors, Witches, and Wizards

Story summary. What changes in the story would have happened if Harry's aunt instead of not having any magic was actually what they called in the wizarding world a sensor? A person who unlike a witch or wizard couldn't perform "high level" magic, but instead could sense and recognize any kind of magic in a wide area? What if she was sent to Hogwarts with her sister to learn how to be a sensor? And what if when Voldemort attacked her family she took in Harry and began teaching him magic? This story explores just what could have happened had this been the case.

Author's Notes: Finally got around to starting this. Shadow clones is next up, then ill start the sm/Naruto story. One quick head's up. Harry knows some "small level magic" before ever going to Hogwarts. These are like first year spell only don't need a wand to perform not as powerful.

Chapter one: New Beginnings

The street of Privet Dr. was illuminated by a number of street lamps. A man dressed in flowing purple robes with half moon spectacles and a long silver beard stepped into one of the circles of light and held up what looked like a lighter. Clicking it, the light he was standing in instantly flew into the strange device. Clicking it eleven more times, all of the lights left the lamps and entered the device. In one of the houses, a woman gave a small start as she woke up feeling a magical object being used close by. Sitting up in bed next to her husband, she concentrated and realized that she had felt this kind of device being used before. Getting up, she got dressed and headed down to the living room in her house and waited knowing that the owner would be at her doorstep soon.

Meanwhile outside, The man in robes was walking down the street to the house where he knew the lady was now awake and waiting for him. Coming to number 4, he noticed a cat already sitting in front of the gate. Smiling down at it the man said "Good evening Professor McGonagall." The cat then shifted to form into an older lady who also wore robes, these ones green and nodded her head to the man who spoke. "Good evening headmaster Dumbledore. Are the rumors true?" She asked with a small bit of sadness and hope in her voice.

The now named Dumbledore sighed slightly before saying "I'm afraid so. The poor boy was the only one to survive. We still aren't sure how though."

At that moment the two heard what sounded like a motorcycle, looking around, they noticed a light in the sky coming towards them and getting lower with each moment. When it reached the street, it landed and came along side the two to reveal it was indeed a motorcycle with a rather large man riding while wearing a long brown coat. Turning the engine off, the newcomer said to the two "Evening professor, headmaster."

"Evening Hagrid. I take it everything went all right?" Dumbledore asked to which Hagrid nodded. "Yes sir. Little tyke fell asleep as we passed over Bristol." He then showed the two a one year old baby that was wrapped in a blanket.

Taking the baby, Dumbledore walked up to the door with the other two following behind. Reaching the door, he sent a small pulse of magic out to alert the occupant inside the house.

Inside, the woman stood up and headed to the front door. Opening it, she saw two teachers that she had not seen in a while and one of the most unusual people she had ever met. She instantly noticed the bundle in her former teacher's arms and frowned. Looking up she said "I'm not going to like what you're here for am I?"

Dumbledore nodded silently and said "I am afraid so Petunia. May we come in?"

Petunia nodded and stepped aside and allowed the others to come in and led them to the kitchen. Using one of the few spells she could perform, she pointed at a chair and enlarged it for her larger than normal visitor who nodded a thanks and sat down in it while the other two sat down in their own chairs. Heading to the cabinets, Petunia pulled out some tea packages and used another small house spell she could do to make some tea without using a kettle so that she would not wake the other members of the household. Once the tea was ready, she poured it into three cups and a mug and brought them over to the table. Once they were all seated, Dumbledore thanked her for the tea and began to explain what had happened earlier that night.

Petunia was shocked to learn that her sister Lily and her husband James had been murdered that night. She silently cried as she listened and McGonagall did her best to comfort the distraught sensor. Dumbledore then explained how Lily had asked him that if anything happened that he was to bring her son to Petunia to live until it was time for him to come to Hogwarts.

At this Petunia became confused. "Sir, while I will gladly take him in, Wouldn't Harry be better off with Sirius? I mean I'm not really the best option of raising someone who obviously has such strong magic in him."

Dumbledore shook his head and explained that while Voldemort was killed, his followers still remained and would most likely try to find Harry and kill him in revenge. He also explained that Sirius was looking for the one who betrayed the Potters and that it was not a well known fact that one of the best sensors in Britain was related to the Potters so no one would think to look here for him. Petunia nodded realizing that the old man was correct on that one.

Afterwards, they talked about what to do with Harry and came to the conclusion that it would be best for him to learn small level magic (Magic that usually happens by accident but can sometimes be learned.) once he had his first "accident". It was also agreed that when he turned eleven that he would be sent to Hogwarts for proper wizard training. Once they ironed out all of the details, the three magic users thanked Petunia for her time and the tea and left. Just before teleporting out of the area, Dumbledore released the light from his device and then apparated out of the area.

Ten Years Later

Harry was in bed dreaming. It wasn't a very pleasant one either. Oh sure, it started out all right, but he knew that wouldn't last very long. In the dream, he was looking around a house while a couple played with their one year old son. It went on for about an hour like this until the scene turned into one of the same house being viewed from the outside while a green flash erupted from the first floor followed closely by two more flashes. After which the house explodes. The first flash occurred but right before the next flash would come, he heard someone say his name. The dream mercifully ended.

In the world of the waking, Petunia was standing at her nephew's door about to wake him when she noticed the look on his face.

'That dream again. I don't get it, why does he keep dreaming about that night? I can understand the fact that it would seriously traumatize him if had remembered it, but until that dream started he never knew exactly how his parents died. I wish we could figure out a way to keep him from having it, this is the fifth time this year.'

Deciding to spare her nephew as much as she could, she quickly walked over to the bed's occupant and said softly "Harry" while lightly shaking him. Her nephew, already used to waking up so early, easily woke up to see her aunt looking down at him.

"I had that dream again." Harry said while grabbing his glasses from the bedside.

"I could tell." Petunia said with a slight frown. "I'm just glad you can handle it better now than the first few times you've had it."

Harry nodded. The dream had started showing up every once in a while when he turned five. It had really shaken him up when he first saw it and Petunia, and by extension Dumbledore, were worried when he told them about it. Dumbledore had cast a few charms to help him keep the dream from popping up as often as it did before, but that didn't mean it wouldn't rear it's ugly head a few times. It had been getting worse last year, even when Dumbledore had redid the charms. Fortunately, Harry was handling it a lot better than he was even a few years ago.

Shaking her head slightly to take her mind off those thoughts, she looked down and said "Time to get up Harry."

Harry nodded and grabbed a change of clothes before heading to the bathroom to get cleaned up. Petunia headed downstairs and got everything needed to make breakfast out and started cooking bacon. Five minutes later, Harry came down and started to set the table by using a small level levitation spell to bring four glasses to the table. While he was performing the spell, he opened the refrigerator door, gestured to the orange juice which left the carton it was in and went into the four glasses that were now set on the table. He then gestured at the butter tray and sent it to the table as well. He then gestured at a drawer and it opened, sending out four forks and knives which quickly went to their proper places on the table. Another gesture, and the drawer closed, while Harry then gestured towards the pantry and the marmalade came floating to the head of the table as well. That finished, Harry went next to his aunt and started cooking the eggs the old fashioned way, taking out a bowl, cracking the eggs on the rim and stirring the eggs by hand. While he knew some low level spells that could speed up the cooking time and make it hands free, He and his aunt usually cooked by hand since his aunt called cooking "an art." Once he was done stirring up the eggs, he took out a frying pan and set the eggs in it to cook, occasionally stirring when needed. While this was going on Petunia mad four pieces of toast while waiting for the bacon to cook. Once both groups of food were done, she took both plates of food to the table and set them down. A few moments later Harry finished cooking the eggs and set them on the table as well. He then turned and gestured to a cabinet and summoned four plates with a small gesture and sent each one to it's own place.

Petunia went to the staircase and called out "Breakfast!" before coming back into the kitchen where she and her nephew sat down and put a piece of toast on their plate along with some bacon and eggs. It wasn't too long before the two could hear two sets of footsteps coming down, one a bit faster than the other. Harry's nephew, Dudley, practically ran into the kitchen and started devouring the food there. His uncle, Vernon, came at a much slower pace and sat down and started eating in a more dignified pace. Shaking his head at his cousin's antics, Harry once again mused at the fact that if his aunt wasn't around to keep Dudley from eating everything in site, he would probably be fatter than a pig. As it were, the kid was still a little chubby. Sighing, Harry formed the gesture used for most of his low level spells, (The universal English hand sign for two, only with pointer and middle finger together instead of split) and pointed it at the marmalade jar before gesturing to himself. The jar shot straight to his now open hand with a small smack sound before he opened it and put some on his toast. His uncle immediately got a weird look on his face when he saw this but then went back to eating. Dudley had also looked up from eating (Gasp! The world's ending! LOL sorry.) with a strange look as well but went straight back to eating. Aunt and nephew noticed the looks and rolled their eyes. Those two had always been a little edgy around the fact that Harry, and to a very small extent Petunia, could use magic. Vernon hadn't been to happy to know that he was taking in his nephew when he heard the morning after the visit. In his opinion, magic had no place in the "modern" world, but he had tolerated Petunia's "passive abilities" and unfortunately Petunia had been rather adamant about keeping Harry safe so that no extreme "accidents" would happen without her being there for damage control. Vernon didn't like it, but he reluctantly agreed to let him stay.

Harry was extremely grateful that his aunt had kept him. He didn't know what he would have done without her guidance after his accidents started happening. She and a few of the teachers from Hogwarts had worked with him to get his abilities under control. Now the only time he would have an accident was if he started getting really angry or felt any other strong negative emotions. One thing that in his opinion that was really cool was the little fact that as a sensor, his aunt was able to create a mental link with each other. This really came in handy since they had actually used it to teach Harry while he was asleep. Right now through this link, the two felt each others mental sighs when they saw the looks but didn't comment on them. Instead, Petunia started thinking about whether or not they should pack anything for the trip to the zoo that they were taking since it was Dudley's birthday. Harry himself was looking forward to the snake house since sometimes the snakes would talk to him. He had been very surprised the first time it had happened, and also a little scared when Dumbledore had explained to him that some of Voldemort's powers most likely got transferred that night ten years ago, but once he got over it, he found it was actually pretty cool. Though he did keep the fact that he could talk to snakes from his uncle and cousin since it would just be one more thing that "didn't belong in the modern world."

Before they left, Vernon and Petunia showed Dudley the gifts they bought him and he started to throw a tantrum about how there were only twelve presents instead of fifteen like last year. (A whole lot better than the thirty six in the movie in my opinion.) The key word is started since Harry, knowing what was coming, quickly used a small level silencing spell that worked for about ten seconds. Petunia sighed when he did this but was actually grateful since she had tried to keep Dudley from becoming spoiled although her husband didn't seem to care as much. Honestly, sometimes she thought that if he and she died the next day, Dudley would get everything and Harry would be sent off to an orphanage. After that interesting event, they left the house and head out to the zoo.

London Zoo

The trip to the zoo was fairly uneventful. They were walking around looking at all the animals and taking their sweet time. It was only when they got to the reptile house that things got real weird.

"Hey look! They got some new animals!" some random kid said to their parents as the Dursleys followed the family in. Harry took a quick look around and spotted what the kid had seen, a big kimono dragon and a boa constrictor.

'Wonder what their stories are' Harry thought to himself as he started walking along the exhibits. Every snake that he passed would look up and give him a small nod. Harry returned them and kept going. If Dudley wasn't hanging around so close, he would have stayed to talk to a couple but the snakes understood how he wanted to keep his ability a secret and so settled for nodding a little.

Walking around, they eventually reached the boa constrictor's cage. Harry and surprisingly Dudley took and interest in the snake. Harry decided to talk to it to get to know it and so waited for Dudley to lose interest in it which didn't take too long.

Making sure his cousin had truly moved on, Harry knelt down so that way his head wasn't as high as before and looked at the snake. To anyone besides his aunt, it would have looked like he was just getting a closer look at the big snake. And that was partially correct, but he was also getting closer to make it easier to communicate.

"Hey, my name's Harry. Been here long?" Harry asked moving his lips as little as possible while watching for the snake's response.

The snake opened one of its eyes and looked at the kid who was actually talking to him as if he could understand him. He decided to play along just for the heck of it, "Just transferred about a month ago." To his surprise, the kid actually nodded.

"I see. Must have been weird when they moved you." The kid said. He just nodded. "A little." Another nod. "So where are you from originally?"

The snake looked at the sign placed on the wall of his exhibit as if seeing it for the first time and taking the time to read it. Looking back to the kid, he said "A place like this. I think they called it the New York Zoo. I know it had to be a long way away since the trip was extremely long, though I did sleep most of the way."

Harry nodded again and said "New York is a long way away." He then looked at the sign himself and saw that the boa had been bred in captivity. 'Never seen the forest then. Wonder if he knows about it?'

Before Harry could ask however, he heard "Mom! Dad! Come quick! You won't believe what the snake is doing!" Suddenly, Harry was pushed backwards by his cousin who got right up against the glass with his hands on it. From the floor, Harry got an annoyed look and without realizing it, reached inward to his magic and activated a spell. For one brief moment, the glass took on a vapor quality and Dudley who was leaning against it, fell right into the pool of the exhibit. The snake saw this and quickly uncoiled itself and came out of the exhibit just before the glass resolidified. Looking to Harry, the boa nodded to him and said "Thanks." to which Harry just replied "Your welcome." before watching the snake head towards the exit, scaring everyone it came close to on the way out. Harry chuckled as he heard "Brazil here I come!"

Petunia, having sensed the unconscious use of magic, was heading back to the exhibit with her husband behind her when they saw what happened. To Petunia, it was one of the more unusual "accidents" that happened over the years. It was quite funny to Harry to see Dudley banging on the glass trying to get out.


	2. Heading Off To Diagon Alley

Heading Off To Diagon Alley

The entire family was rather quite on the way back to the Dursley residence. That all changed once the front door closed when they entered. Vernon grabbed Harry and practically shouted "What the hell was that? How dare you do such a thing in public?" He was starting to turn a nasty shade of purple when Petunia put a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to find his wife giving him a very stern look and she calmly said "I'll handle this Vernon." Vernon just huffed and he and Dudley left into the living room to watch TV.

Petunia watched them go before turning to Harry and her look softened a little before she jerked her head towards the stairs. Harry nodded and followed her aunt to his room and sat on the bed. Petunia pulled the chair from his desk up to the bed and sat down before asking "What happened Harry? I could tell that you didn't mean to use magic like that but I thought we got those accidents under control."

Harry looked down before saying "Sorry Aunt Petunia. You see, I was having a talk with the snake when Dudley pushed me away. I just got real angry and annoyed at him for doing that and without realizing it I just called up the magic."

Petunia frowned when she heard this. She would have to talk to her son about what to do and not to do to those around him. Especially when it concerned her nephew. Sighing she said "I understand Harry. Just try to keep your emotions in check. We wouldn't want anything to blow up or anything else along those lines now would we?"

Harry nodded and the two went back downstairs. When they got down, Petunia realized that with all the fuss about what happened at the zoo that the entire family had stepped over the mail without even noticing it. Shaking her head to herself, she bent down to pick up the mail. Straightening back up, she noticed a crest she hadn't seen on a letter in years. (Just in case you're wondering, Petunia and Harry always talked to Dumbledore in person or by floo network.)

'That's right. It's time for Harry to head to school this year.' Petunia thought while looking at the letter for another moment before turning around and heading into the living room where everyone was seated. "Harry, you got a letter from Hogwarts."

Everyone's eyes shot to the letter in Petunia's hand. Harry felt both excited and terrified as he reached out and took the letter already knowing what was in it. Excited because he was finally old enough to take his magic to the next level. Terrified because he knew one particular professor who could make his life hell if he wanted to and because he knew how the world of magic saw him and he did not want to have to deal with the constant attention he would get.

After reading the letter to himself he pulled out the list of books that were needed for the year that was included with the letter. Petunia held out her hand and Harry gave her the list. Looking through it with a quick glance, Petunia said "Well Harry, it looks like a trip to Diagon Alley is in order. I'll contact the headmaster. I know he will want to know we received the letter. After that we'll travel by floo powder."

Harry nodded and Petunia quickly contacted Dumbledore who informed them that he would send Hagrid to the Leaky Cauldron to meet them there. Once that was out of the way, the pair stepped into the fireplace and were whisked away to the one place where they could get everything they needed.

Author's Notes: Hey guys, sorry the chapter is so short, but right now it is not very interesting for me to write and I just wanted to get this out of the way. Next chapter will be a whole lot more detailed I promise. I also promise I will try to get up to 4,000 words like my Naruto fic in the next few chapters. As always tell me what you think.


	3. Diagon Alley

3. Diagon Alley

Author's Notes: Hey guys, I just realized that I probably should have been a bit more specific about the type of magic Harry was taught after his first accident. Due to how strong Harry's magic is from receiving a portion of Voldemort's power when he was little, the low level magic that Harry was taught is actually strong enough to be considered wand less magic. So if Harry seems to not need a wand sometimes where others do, say for Wingardium Leviosa, it is because he is using a 'lower level' spell that is as powerful as a 'wand level' spell. Also, fair warning here before we go further in case you haven't noticed: In this story Petunia is incredibly OOC at times. One last thing, I will be quoting almost directly out of the book at times but as all of us who read these stories know, none of us own Harry Potter. Well, let's get started.

The fire at the Leaky Cauldron flared before two people stepped out of the fireplace and into the crowded bar.

As the bartender recognized one of the two people, he smiled and called out "Ah Petunia! It's certainly been a while since last time you came. The usual, or are you drinking something else nowadays?"

Petunia smiled and said "Not today Tom. I'm afraid I'm here on family business."

Seeing the hand she put on Harry's shoulder, Tom and the rest of the crowd looked at Harry's face which was quickly turning red from all the attention.

"Good lord." Tom said "Is that Harry Potter?"

Right after he said that, there was a large collective scrabble as all the witches and wizards in the bar tried to meet Harry and shake his hand. Many were saying things such as "Welcome back Mr. Potter, Welcome back!" and "It's such an honor to finally meet you Mr. Potter!' Harry was beginning to feel overwhelmed from everything when a rather large man holding an umbrella under one arm made his way through the crowd.

"All right everyone, that's enough now. Harry needs to get his things for school."

As the crowd dispersed after the man's words, Petunia looked up at the man and said with a smile "Thank you Hagrid." Her face then turned serious and she said "Now why don't you tell me why Dumbledore sent you? It hasn't been so long since I've been here that I have forgotten my way around so we don't need a tour guide. And I doubt Harry would be attacked here."

Hagrid chuckled and said "Leave it to a sensor to sense things and want to get straight to the bottom of them. Anyway, Dumbledore has an errand he wanted me to run and thought I might as well join you while I was at it in case you needed any help."

Petunia hmmed before she headed towards the back of the bar with Harry at her side and Hagrid falling in behind the two.

Exiting the bar, the trio found themselves in a small courtyard with a trash bin up against the far wall. Petunia led the group to the trash can before tapping the bricks with her finger counting to herself as she tapped three bricks up and two across.

As she reached the right brick, Petunia tapped her finger on the brick three times while Harry sensed through their mental link her draw on her small magic reserves and send some into the brick. The brick wiggled before receding into the wall and sliding to the side while others followed before an archway appeared revealing a bustling street line with all kinds of shops and witches and wizards going about in a colorful and noisy rush.

Petunia looked down at her nephew and chuckled at how Harry's face looked just like her and her sister's did the first time they saw the place. Hagrid took notice of Harry's expression as well and beamed down at him.

Smiling, Petunia put her hand on her nephew's shoulder and said "Welcome Harry, to Diagon Alley!"

Harry gaped for a moment before pulling himself together and said "This is amazing! I've never seen anything like it!"

Petunia chuckled again and said "Well then come on. How do you expect to see everything if you just stand there like that?"

And without further comment Petunia took off into the bustling crowd with Harry hurrying to keep up with Hagrid right behind him. The trio walked at a brisk pace through the street as Harry's head was constantly moving from side to side as he tried to take everything in, from the kids slightly older than him staring at a window looking at a broom to the witch muttering to herself about the price of dragon livers.

The trio kept walking until they reached a large building made out of marble with stairs leading to the entrance with the word Gringotts over the top of the doorway.

As they reached the top of the stairs, Petunia turned around and said "Welcome to the wizard's bank Gringotts Harry. Like a muggle bank, this is where everyone keeps their money and other precious things." Petunia suddenly grinned before continuing. "But unlike a muggle bank, you would be barking mad to try to rob this place. It's run by goblins, yes goblins Harry. And not only that, this place has so many spells and wards protecting the things inside it's crazy. I can easily sense over a hundred different protection and anti-theft spells in there from here and that's only the obvious ones. There is no place safer than Gringotts if you want something protected. Well except for Hogwarts maybe." Petunia added with a thoughtful look on her face before shrugging and entering into the lobby with the other two right on her heels.

As the three walked towards the row of tellers, Hagrid split off from the others with a wave and said "Meet up with you two later."

Petunia nodded and headed to a teller that was currently free. As the goblin rose it's head from the galleons it had been placing into a drawer, its eyes lit up when he saw who was in front of him.

"Ah, Miss Evans, welcome! It is so nice to see you again after all this time. I must say, we at Gringotts really do appreciate what you did for the bank. What may I do for you today?"

Seeing Harry's confused look at the use of her maiden name and the Miss instead of Mrs., Petunia sent a 'later' over their mental link before smiling and saying "Will Griphook, we need to take some money out of my sister's vault to get some school supplies for my nephew, Harry."

The goblin nodded as it looked over at Harry and said "But of course. I take it you have Mr. Potter's key Miss Evans?"

Petunia nodded before digging around in her pockets before handing said key over to Griphook. Griphook took the key with a smile before sliding out behind the teller's booth and led the two down a hallway until they came upon a set of tracks that led into what looked like an underground cave.

Griphook whistled and a cart similar to what could be found in mines came hurtling up on the tracks before stopping in front of the trio who climbed in and sat on the bench that was inside. Once everyone was inside, the cart shot back down the tracks.

After a wild ride of twisting and turning through various tunnels the cart stopped beside a wall that had a door in it. The trio got out before Griphook inserted the key into the lock and turned. As the door opened up Harry's eyes widened at the sight that met him. There in front of him were mountains of gold galleons, columns of silver sickles and heaps of bronze knuts.

Petunia saw his face and for seemingly the fiftieth time chuckled before saying "I told you your parents left you a small fortune for when you came back to the world of magic. But did you believe me? Of course not. Bet you do now though don't you?"

Harry could only nod while Petunia chuckled again and went into the vault and started putting money in a bag so that they could buy what was needed for Harry's year at school and also have enough to last him throughout the year. After she had gotten out what she believed would be enough to last her nephew for a year at school, Petunia exited the vault and the goblin locked the door and handed Petunia the key who pocketed it.

After a short trip back up to the surface, the trio went back to the teller desk where Griphook thanked them for their business and wished them a profitable day. Petunia returned a similar parting and the two left the lobby and waited outside for Hagrid.

When Hagrid came out from the bank he was looking a little green but lightened up when he saw the two.

"Got everything you need?"

Petunia nodded and Hagrid grinned before leaning over to whisper something into her ear that Harry could not hear. Whatever he said made Petunia smile and nod before saying "That sounds like an excellent idea Hagrid. We'll meet up with you later at Ollivanders after we get everything else."

Hagrid took off with Harry looking after him with a confused look on his face but was brought out from his trance when Petunia said "Well, lets go get your stuff Harry."

Harry could only nod and Petunia led him to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions to get Harry fitted for his Hogwarts robes.

Madam Malkin turned out to be a squat almost constantly smiling witch dressed all in mauve.

"Hogwarts, dear?" She asked before either of her new customers could open their mouths to speak. "Got the lot here - another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."

Petunia smiled at how almost exactly the witch had greeted her and her sister when they first came in for their own robes.

As petunia took a seat near the front of the store, Harry was led to the back where a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes.

"Hello" said the boy, "Hogwarts too?"

"Yes" said Harry.

"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," The boy said in a bored drawling voice before continuing "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

Both Harry and Petunia who had heard the boy thought he was acting a lot like Dudley when he wanted something. Before Harry could say anything though, Petunia spoke up.

"I wouldn't recommend your mother getting you your wand young man."

The boy's face snapped over to her and he asked "Oh, and why's that?"

Petunia looked at the boy in what could almost be pity before saying "It is said that the wand chooses the wizard. How can a wand properly choose its wielder if that person is not there. People who had someone else get them their wand often find their spells are a lot weaker. I've come across many people who did this. And when compared side by side by those who got the wand themselves, the ones who weren't there at the choosing had less powerful magic. Believe me, as a sensor, I should know."

The boy's face turned red, either from embarrassment or anger, maybe even both.

But before he could open his mouth to retort, the witch who was fitting him said "There we go dear, all done."

The boy hopped off the stool and practically flew out the store causing Petunia to shake her head.

Harry stared after the boy for a few seconds before turning to Petunia and asked "Is that true?"

Petunia got a mock hurt look on her face and said "Harry, I'm hurt." before her face got serious again and said "I'm was telling the truth Harry, and you better remember that fact. It is one of the most important natural laws of the world of magic. If the wand does not recognize the wielder as it's proper owner, it will refuse to perform as well as one that has chosen to be wielded by that person. So unless you won another wand in a duel with another witch or wizard, or have their permission to use them, use your own wand or else your spell might just backfire on you."

Harry nodded and promised his aunt he would and the fitter finished his fittings five minutes later. After they left Madam Malkin's, they entered a stationary store and bought Harry parchment and quills.

As they left the store and began making their way to the book store called Flourish and Blotts, Harry remembered what happened at Gringotts and asked his aunt about it.

"That's right, I did tell you I would explain that didn't I?" Petunia said as she looked down at her nephew for a moment before continuing down the street.

"As I told you before, when sensors are taught about magic we are taught some things that other witches and wizards are rarely taught. The main thing that we are taught is how to identify the class of spells or wards that we are sensing and then how to further identify those spells and wards. There are five main classes of magic that we are trained to sense with a number of subcategory classes as well. Those five classes are Transfiguration, Mental, Security, Residential, and Transportation. The names of the classes are all pretty much self-explanatory. We are also trained to be able to identify potions by sensing the magical ingredients used to create them. Now then, about five years after I graduated from Hogwarts, Gringotts had asked the Ministry of Magic to recommend a small number of sensors to provide a security analysis of the bank like they do about every century. The current Minister of Magic of the time asked Dumbledore who to recommend and my name came up. About a month later me and two other sensors were cleared to do our analysis. We found a couple of areas where the spells had degraded leaving holes that could be exploited if a burglar was really serious enough, but those were mostly near even stronger defenses than what were failing. Anyway, I had recommended a relatively new method that I had heard about while I was in my seventh year where you used a certain spell combination that prevented unauthorized port keys being made inside the building and any unauthorized port key going in would be neutralized as long as it was inside the building. Needless to say that the bank already had something similar to that in place. The only difference was that the combination I recommended lasted not only twice as long as the previous setup but was also easier to use since it didn't require as many spells to cast. As for calling me Miss Evans instead of Mrs. Dursley, since your uncle has never come with me into the bank, the goblins feel no need to call me by anything other than my maiden name."

Harry nodded at this and the two entered the book store where they had stood outside as Petunia finished her explanation.

As Petunia went around grabbing the books Harry would need for his school year, he looked around at all the other books in the store. When they went to buy the books, Harry had five books in his hand. Unfortunately when Petunia looked through what he wanted, she told him to return one of the books.

"I will not be having another Marauder in my house doing nothing for the next two weeks but pranking his cousin. Now put this menace back where you found it." Petunia said with hidden amusement as she held up a copy of "101 Pranks Sure To Work."

Harry "ah"ed but complied while Petunia smirked behind his back thinking of Harry's face when she gave him his father's diary on Christmas. That boy from Hogwarts had put more pranks into that book of his about what he and his friends did than there could ever be in that pitiful excuse trying to teach kids how to have fun.

Of course Petunia would deny it, but she was looking forward to seeing what Harry could come up with even if it would give her a headache afterwards. Sometimes he was so much like his father it was like he was cloned from the man instead of being his son.

They then visited a store that sold cauldrons and other tools for magical classes and got Harry a collapsible brass cauldron as well a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope.

Afterwards they visited the Apothecary and Petunia smiled at how fascinated Harry was of the place even with the smell and for a moment could see her sister in his place.

As they left the Apothecary, Petunia was looking through the list sent by the school making sure they had everything. Nodding to herself, she folded up the list and said "Right then, all we need now is your wand. And there's only one place in all of England I would trust enough to get a wand at. Ollivanders."

When they reached Ollivanders, Hagrid was waiting with a snowy white owl in a cage in one hand, with her head under a wing asleep.

As they approached him, he smiled at Harry and said "Happy birthday Harry!"

Harry at once loved the owl and thanked Hagrid profusely. He decided to name the owl Hedwig.

As the trio entered the store, a soft voice came behind the shelves "Good Afternoon."

As an old man came to the front of the store he took a look at Harry and said "Ah yes. Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."

Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry before continuing "Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it - it's really the wand that chooses the wizard of course."

Harry nodded and said "So Aunt Petunia has told me."

Ollivander gave a smile as he looked over at Petunia and said "I imagine she would. I still think it is a pity you were born a sensor my dear. If what you are capable of as one is anything to go by, you would have been absolutely wondrous with a wand."

Petunia smiled and thanked the man for the compliment before he got practically nose to nose with Harry and gently touched the lightning scar on his forehead.

"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did this as well." He said softly before continuing "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands…well, if I'd known what that was going out into the world to do…"

He shook his head and then seemed to just now notice Hagrid.

"Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again….Oak, Sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"

"It was, sir, yes." Said Hagrid.

"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" Mr. Ollivander said, suddenly stern and giving Harry a small shiver at his tone of voice.

"Er- yes, they did yes." said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces though." he added brightly.

"But you don't _use _them?" Mr. Ollivander asked sharply.

"Oh no sir." Hagrid said quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his umbrella very tightly as he spoke.

Petunia's lips twitched upward for a split second as she absentmindedly sent her senses to the umbrella.

'I always wondered how Dumbledore made it possible for Hagrid to do wand level magic when his wand was snapped. Knowing him, he probably did it himself for him. Who else but Albus Dumbledore would turn a pink umbrella into a wand?'

Mr. Ollivander gave Hagrid a piercing stare before hmming to himself. Turning back to Harry he said "Now then, Mr. Potter, lets get you started. What's your wand arm?"

"Right sir." Harry replied beginning to feel like a bug being examined under a microscope because of how serious the old man was looking at him.

The man nodded and told Harry to hold out his arm as he pulled out a tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket and began measuring all kinds of things with it.

"Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand. Right then, that should be enough."

As he had been speaking, Ollivander had pulled away leaving the tape measure to make the measurements by itself. As he finished his little monologue, the tape fell down to the floor as Mr. Ollivander pulled out a wand from his shelf and asked Harry to give it a try.

However, as soon as Harry flicked the wand it was snatched out of his hand and another placed into it. This went on for a good ten minutes and soon there was a rather large pile of wands on the chair that was near the front door. However, instead of seeming to get impatient, Mr. Ollivander was beginning to look quite pleased as he kept suggesting one wand after another.

"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere - I wonder, now - yes, why not - unusual combination - holly and phoenix feather eleven inches, nice and supple."

Harry took the wand and instantly felt a sudden warmth in his hands. When he swished the wand, a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework. Petunia smiled while Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr. Ollivander cried "Oh Bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well…how curious…how very curious…"

"Sorry" Harry said as Mr. Ollivander put the wand in its box and then wrapped it "but _what's_ curious?"

Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with a stare from his pale eyes.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another - just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother - why, its brother gave you that scar."

Harry swallowed as Petunia's eyes narrowed as the implications of that information began to sink into her brain.

'A murderer and his intended victim's wands are brothers? I'm not usually one for divination, but that sure sounds like one being equal to the other to me. I'll have to let Albus know about this later.'

"Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember….I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter…. After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great.

Harry shivered before Petunia gave the old wand maker seven Galleons for the wand and the old man bowed his customers out of his store.

As the trio walked through the alley, Petunia noticed that Harry was looking a bit down.

Frowning she asked "Harry, is everything alright?"

Sighing, Harry simply said "It's just strange knowing that my wand is connected to his in some way."

Petunia nodded and said "I understand. I'm sure there is a reason for it. But until that reason becomes clear, it's best to drop that little fact into the back of your mind."

Harry nodded and the rest of the trip was silent until the trio was back at the Leaky Cauldron which was by that time empty. Hagrid bid the two goodbye before leaving to go back to Hogwarts. Harry and Petunia then returned home via floo powder. As soon as they were home, Harry went up to his bedroom and began going through his new books.


	4. Journey From Platform 9 34

4. The Journey From Platform Nine And Tree-Quarters

Harry spent the next few weeks studying the books that he bought at Diagon Alley. He found them all fascinating as he read through them. One thing that really surprised him was that most of the beginner charms were the exact same that he could do. The only difference seemed to be that they needed a wand.

When Harry asked his aunt about this she explained that due to the strength of Harry's magic, his low level magic was actually as strong as wand-level magic. She then explained that due to this, he could expect the magic he learned at Hogwarts to be stronger than must students' from his year would be. She also made it perfectly clear that she expected Harry to learn how to do the charms as well.

Finally, September first came and Petunia was able to convince Vernon to let her drive the car to the King's Cross station in London.

Once the car was parked, Petunia had Harry run get a cart to put his trunk and Hedwig's cage on before the two locked the car and headed into the station.

As they walked, Harry suddenly thought of something and said "Aunt Petunia?"

"Hm?"

"You said Platform 9 ¾ was hidden from muggle view right?"

Petunia looked down at her nephew and said "That's right."

Harry frowned and said "How come no one notices it? Surely someone must fall down onto the tracks or run into the train."

Petunia smiled and said "That's because the platform isn't actually there. It's more accurate to say that the entrance to the platform is hidden. It's really more like a portal. The actual platform is in another part of the station where muggles don't notice it. However, if everyone went straight to the platform it would draw too much attention to that area."

Harry gave an "oh" as the group came up to where platforms nine and ten were. As they came upon the middle of the two platforms, Petunia nudged Harry before pointing at a large family of redheads as they walked down the middle telling him to watch.

To Harry's amazement, the family calmly walked towards one of the pillars before completely disappearing as they touched it.

Seeing Harry's look of amazement, Petunia chuckled and said "Notice Me Not charm. Easier to use on a small entry point than on an entire area which is why we do it this way so no one notices people are vanishing around the pillar."

Harry nodded his understanding and the two continued to the same pillar. Petunia calmly walked through the pillar with Harry following a bit nervous. A split second of darkness later Harry found himself coming out the other side to a sight that left him staring.

The platform was literary teeming with witches and wizards in different colored robes helping their children stow their luggage and getting them on the train. Owls hooted at each other and the toads and cats did the same as the students were having last minute words before boarding the train.

The train itself was unlike anything Harry had personally seen before. The engine was a combination of bright red and shiny black and looked like one of the trains from an American western film.

The two moved out of the way of the portal and headed over to the train stopping at a compartment near the end where there was space to put Harry's trunk in. After they had Harry's trunk and Hedwig's cage on the train, Petunia kneeled a little until she was eye level with her nephew and put a hand on his shoulder and gave him some last minute advice.

"Harry, when you get to Hogwarts, keep an open mind. As you know, things in the world of magic aren't always what they seem at first glance. This includes the people around you. Allow their actions to do their talking to you, not others' opinions."

Harry nodded and said "Don't worry, I will."

Petunia nodded and said "Good. Stay safe, and have a good year."

Harry nodded again and the two hugged before Petunia sent him onto the train just as the train whistle sounded. Harry waved from his compartment and Petunia returned the wave with a smile before the train began moving.

As the train pulled away Petunia thought 'It's going to be awfully quiet around the house now.'

As Harry looked out the window, King's Cross station soon disappeared to be replaced by houses as the train began its journey.

Harry heard the door to his compartment slide open. When he looked over to it he saw one of the redheads from before standing in the doorway.

The boy pointed to the seat opposite Harry and said "Is anyone sitting there? The rest of the compartments are full."

Harry shook his head and the boy came into the compartment and sat down.

After he was seated the boy said "I'm Ron by the way Ron Weasley."

Harry mentally prepared himself before saying "Harry. Harry Potter."

Ron's eyes went wide and he said "Really? Um, do you really have the-"

He stopped talking and just pointed at Harry's forehead. Harry simply took a deep breath before he blew upwards lifting part of his messy hair up which revealed the lightning shaped mark on his forehead.

Ron eye's widened further and he said "Wicked!"

Harry's hair fell back down as the door to the compartment opened.

Harry looked up and saw two redheads that had to be Ron's brothers.

"Hey Ron, we're going to the middle of the train. Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

Ron gave a muttered fine. The boy on the left than noticed Harry and his eyes lit up before saying "Hello. Don't think we've been introduced. I'm George Weasley, and this is Fred."

The brother on the right nodded when he was pointed.

Harry nodded as well and said "Harry Potter.?"

The twins' eyes widened and their eyes darted to his forehead. Harry sighed before raising his hand up and brushed his hair aside.

As the twins saw the scar, their eyes took an interesting light and they turned to Ron and Fred said "Well, iclkle Ronniekins, we'll be going now. Don't forget to get his autograph."

Ron's face turned red as the twins laughed and left the compartment. Harry himself looked a little embarrassed by the autograph comment.

About ten minutes later, an old witch pushing a cart full of wizard snacks and asked if they wanted anything.

Ron had pulled out a sandwich saying that he was alright while Harry looked over the cart in curiosity. Deciding to indulge himself this once, Harry grabbed a little of everything to Ron's astonishment.

"Hungry?" Ron asked with wide eyes.

Harry shrugged and said "We didn't really have wizard sweets at the Dursley's. I want to see what witches and wizards eat."

Ron got an "ah" look before gesturing to a chocolate frog and said "Mind if I have one?"

Harry shook his head and said "Help yourself."

Ten minutes later the sweets were nothing but a pile of wrappers on the end of one of the seats.

As Harry was looking through all the cards he had gotten from the chocolate frog packets, the compartment door opened and a round faced boy looked in.

Looking around he said "Have you guys seen a toad around?"

The two boys shook their heads and the round faced boy began to look worried.

"Oh man, I can't find him anywhere! He keeps getting away from me."

Harry frowned and said "What's the toad's name?"

The boy looked at Harry obviously wondering how knowing the toad's name helped anything but answered regardless.

"His name's Trevor."

Harry's frown turned into one of concentration as he closed his eyes. Using a small locator charm that Dumbledore taught him, Harry 'saw' the train around him. The train looked like it was in a negative world. (Think about how the world looks like when Frodo had the ring on in Lord of the Rings.)

Harry focused on a small light that was further up the train. Counting how many cars were between him and the light, Harry let the spell drop and said "He's ten cars up under the seat at the front compartment."

Ron and the boy stared at Harry who began to get uncomfortable at the looks they were giving him.

"How do you know where the toad is?" Ron asked.

Harry shrugged and said "Low level locator charm that I was taught. You have to know exactly what you're looking for though. Which is why I needed to know the toad's name otherwise I would have found every single toad on board."

The boy shook himself and said "Thanks! I better go get him before hi moves."

The boy took off. When he was gone Ron said "I don't see why he was so worried. If I brought a toad I would have lost it as soon as possible. Although I got Scabbers so I really shouldn't talk."

After he finished speaking, Ron reached into one of his pockets and pulled out an old looking rat that was fast asleep.

"Got him from Percy when he got an owl." Ron said with a frown before smiling and said "Fred and George showed me a cool spell I could use on him though. Wanna see?"

Harry shrugged and Ron pulled out his wand. Harry noticed that the wand looked like it was a hand me down as well but wisely kept his mouth shut thinking that it would be a touchy subject.

Ron cleared his throat, but before he could start the spell, the door opened yet again drawing the two boys' attention.

Standing in the door way was a bushy haired brunette with a bossy air around her and unusually large front teeth. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.

"As anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one."

"I already told him where to find it." Harry spoke up but it seemed like the girl wasn't listening. Instead she looked at Ron's wand in interest.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."

She sat down next to Harry. Ron looked a little taken back by the bossy tone.

"Er- alright." He said before clearing his throat before continuing "Sunshine, daises, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat, yellow."

He waved his wand but nothing happened. Scabbers remained a grey rat.

Harry cocked his head as the girl asked if it was a real spell and about how she was the first witch in her family. Getting a grin that his aunt would recognize from when she was at school, Harry made a quick hand gesture at the rat. Ron and the girl's eyes widened as the rat changed colors to look like a rainbow.

The girl's jaw dropped as she looked between the rat and Harry who had a proud look on his face.

"You can do wand-less magic!" The girl exclaimed looking at Harry like he was some kind of superstar.

Harry shrugged and said "Well yeah. But only low level magic. You know the kind that's considered accidents when we first do them? I simply know how to control them."

The girl looked even more impressed and said "That's amazing! I heard that it is very hard to be able to control low-level magic when the wizard is young. And for someone not even a student yet to be able to is even more impressive."

Harry shrugged again and said "Not really. I was taught how to use magic at a pretty young age. Had to be able to keep my magic under control since I went to a muggle school."

The girl nodded at his logic before she said "Oh, where's my manners? My name's Hermione Granger."

"Ron Weasley"

"Harry Potter"

Hermione looked at him with wide eyes and said "Really? Well it's really nice meeting you Harry. I've read all about you of course."

Harry nodded already hating the way she was looking at him. Distracting himself with returning Scabbers back to normal he said "Word of advice. Don't believe everything that was written about me. I'm not some great wizard. I'm just someone who got lucky."

The girl looked ready to argue but in the end just shrugged and said "Well it was nice meeting you two. By the way, you might want to start thinking about changing soon. I imagine we'll be there shortly." before standing up and left the compartment.

As she left, Ron looked at him and said "You wouldn't happen to remember anything from that day do you?"

Harry considered what to say and decided the truth would be the best thing.

"Actually remember? Not really. All I can really remember is a green flash. But I've had this dream which has shown me what happened a few times."

Ron gave an "oh" before deciding to drop the subject. Searching for something else to talk about he said "Did you hear about the robbery at Gringotts?"

Harry's head snapped over from where he had been looking out the window to look at Ron.

"Somebody robbed Gringotts?" Harry asked incuriously remembering what his aunt had told him about the goblin run bank.

"Well tried to." Ron said before saying "But the weird thing is that nothing was taken from the vault that had been broken into. It's really weird. They say that only a powerful dark wizard could do it. Some are even saying it was done by You-Know-Who."

Harry frowned and said "You mean Voldemort?"

Ron's eyes widened and he gasped out "You said his name?"

Harry's frown grew and he said "Yeah, so? Dumbledore always says that we shouldn't fear someone's name."

Ron's eyes widened even further and he said "You've actually talked to Dumbledore before?"

Harry was beginning to grow uncomfortable again but before he could say anything the door opened yet again. Silently wondering how many times they would be visited, Harry rose an eyebrow when he saw who had come this time. Standing in the doorway was the boy from the robe shop with two boys that looked like thugs behind him. The boy was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley.

"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes." Harry said warily looking at the two boys standing behind him. They looked like body guards with how thick set they were. To Harry they reminded him more of Dudley's gang. Only difference in Harry's opinion was that they could use magic which made them twice as bad in his book.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle." The pale boy carelessly said noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."

Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."

He turned back to Harry and said "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.

Harry looked from the hand to Draco's face and coolly said "I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks."

Malfoy didn't go red like back at the robe shop, but a pink tinge did appear in his pale cheeks.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter." He said slowly "Unless you're a bit politer, you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and it'll rub off on you."

Harry and Ron both stood up and Harry said in a dangerous tone "Get out."

Malfoy smirked and said "Or you'll do what?"

Harry smirked as well and brought his right hand up in the standard sign for a low-level spell with the fingers level with his left shoulder. He then split his pointer and middle fingers apart forming a v. Right after he did so, sparks of electricity appeared in between the fingers with a thread of electricity connecting his fingertips.

Everyone else's eyes widened as Harry said "Tell me Malfoy, do you know what a taser is? It's a muggle device that shoots electricity into a person paralyzing them. This little spell does the exact same thing. Now get out before I use it on you."

Malfoy's face paled as he backed out of the compartment. He sneered at Harry and said "You better watch your back Potter. I won't forget this."

With that the three took off. Ron meanwhile was still looking at Harry's hand as he brought his two fingers back together closing the current before letting the hand drop back to his side as he walked over to the compartment door and closed it.

Walking back to his seat, Harry sat back down and sighed before saying "I hate people like them."

Ron shook his head and said "What was that?"

Harry looked up and said "It's a low-level self defense spell that I was taught by my aunt. You focus your magic to your fingers and keep the flow between the two steady. Pretty handy if anyone is within arm's reach and is about to hit you."

Before Ron could say anything, the door opened back up and they heard "_What's_ going on here?"

The boys looked up and saw Hermione standing in the door way again. Continuing she said "Why were those three running like they were being attacked?"

Ron smirked and said "Because they bit off more than they could chew."

Hermione seemed to be annoyed at that comment but instead of responding to it said "Well you two might want to get changed now. I was just up front talking to the conductor. He said we'd be there soon."

Harry nodded and thanked her. After she left the two boys changed as Ron began asking Harry what else he could do. A voice soon told them that they would be arriving at Hogwarts and five minutes and to leave their luggage on the train since it would be taken to the school separately.

The train slowed down and the two boys entered the corridor which was quickly filling with other students getting ready to get off the train. The train finally stopped and people pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered form the cold night air. Then he spotted a lamp that was bobbing over the heads of the students as it came closer.

Harry then heard a familiar voice calling out "Firs' Years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"

Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.

Harry walked over to Hagrid who beamed down at him before calling out again for the rest of the first years. Once all of the first years were around him, Hagrid took off away from the platform and let the first years to the shore of a lake where boats were waiting.

After all of the students were settled in, Hagrid knocked on the side of his own boat and the small fleet took off towards an enormous castle that was on the other side.

As they got closer Harry thought 'I'm finally here.'

The fleet went into a wide cave which was covered by vines that reached into the water. At the back of the cave was a harbor where everyone clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. After everyone was around Hagrid again, he lead them down a pathway until they came out near the front door. Hagrid walked up the stone steps to the front door. Raising one of his large hands, he knocked on the door three times.


	5. The Sorting Hat

5 The Sorting Hat

Author's Notes: Hey guys, I thought I should explain something before I went any further. As you guys may have noticed, whenever Harry does a low-level spell, he always uses the same hand sign in one form or another. The reason for this is that the hand sign is like a wand in the way that it acts as a focus for Harry's magic. Basically, Harry concentrates on what he wants the spell to do and channels it through the sign which then shapes the magic. Kind of like Ninjutsu hand signs for all you Naruto fans out there. Also, like in Prince, I am basing my chapters off of the chapters from the book. The only difference between the two is how Harry views of the events are different due to how he was brought up and a few things that I have changed a little that I think belong there. Any way, on to the story.

The door to the castle opened at once and Harry recognized the Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, from when she had visited Privet Drive once with Dumbledore.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall." Said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursley's house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

The first years followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right - the rest of the school must already be here - but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term Banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair.

"I shall return when we are ready for you, Please wait quietly." Professor McGonagall said before she exited the chamber.

As soon as she closed the door, most of the first years began speaking in low tones to each other wondering about how they would be sorted. Next to him, Ron was talking about how the test was supposed to be really tough. On his other side, Hermione was whispering to herself going through the list of spells that she knew wondering which ones she would need impressing Harry with how many she knew. It seemed like she had really memorized the whole charms course like she had said on the train.

Harry meanwhile decided to take the "cross that bridge when you get there" approach and simply stood there waiting. Then something made Harry jump about a foot in the air in surprise as bunch of people behind him screamed.

What had startled Harry so much was a about twenty ghosts coming through one of the walls with absolutely no warning at all supposedly on their way to the feast. They seemed to be arguing.

What looked like a fat little monk was saying "Forgive and forget. I say, we ought to give him a second chance-"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chance he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost - I say, what are you all doing here?"

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years. Nobody answered.

"New Students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"

A few people nodded mutely.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" Said the Friar. "My old house, you know."

"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one the ghosts floated through the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years. "and follow me."

Harry and the rest of the first years nervously formed into a single file line and followed Professor McGonagall into the great hall/

Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver.

Harry quickly grew uncomfortable with all of the attention being placed on him and the rest of the first years. Looking up to draw his mind away from the staring, Harry saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars.

By his side, Hermione saw where he was looking and whispered "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

Harry nodded and whispered back "They did a good job. It's hard to believe there's even a ceiling at all up there. If I didn't know better, I would say this room didn't have one."

Hermione nodded before Professor McGonagall silently placed a four legged stool in front of the first years drawing everyone's attention to her again. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. His aunt wouldn't have let it in the house without using each of the five cleaning spells she knew at least once.

Everyone began staring at the hat. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched before a rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth - and the hat began to sing:

"Oh, you may not think that I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

These patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered on Harry's other side. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."

Harry rolled his eyes at the redhead's gullibility. Honestly, wrestling a troll? Please, where would you find a wizard who developed his muscles enough to do that? Never mind eleven year olds. Harry noticed Hermione rolling her eyes as well and heard a whispered "How absolutely ridiculous. This is a school of magic, not wrestling."

Professor McGonagall stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted." She said "Abbott, Hannah!""

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause,

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.

"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Harry wasn't sure if it was just all the rumors he heard about the house, but he thought that the whole house looked like an unpleasant lot. He mentally promised himself to take his aunt's advice though before he came to any solid conclusions.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy haired boy on Ron's other side in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.

"Granger, Hermione!

Harry chuckled to himself at Hermione's eagerness as she almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Ron groaned while Harry rose an eyebrow.

'I would have sworn someone who was such an obvious bookworm would have gone to Ravenclaw.' Harry thought before shrugging to himself.

When Neville Longbottom was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."

Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed "SLYTHERIN!"

Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking please with himself. There weren't many people left now.

"Moon"… "Nott"… "Parkinson"… then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil"… The "Perks, Sally-Anne."…, and then, at last-

"Potter, Harry!"

'Finally!' Harry thought as he stepped forward. As he did, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.

"_Potter_, did she say?"

"_The_ Harry Potter?"

Harry did his best to ignore the whispering as he picked up the hat. The last thing Harry saw before he dropped it over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.

All of a sudden, a voice appeared next to his ear.

"Hm, what do we have here? You seem quite open to knowledge, Mr. Potter. Fiercely loyal as well to those who earn your trust as well. Willing to stand up for yourself and others as well when threatened. AND ambitious to prove yourself as well. My, my, it seems you have a little bit of everything, don't you? Now then, where should we place you? Hm, Slytherin seems like a good choice."

Harry mentally shook his head and said "Not Slytherin."

"Not Slytherin eh? Well yes, I suppose you would have an aversion to being place in that house considering that was the house Voldemort was in. Hm, very well then, the next best place for you would have to be…GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry heard the hat shout out the last word to the whole hall. He took off the hat and walked toward the Gryffindor table. He was relieved that the hat had accepted his request not to be placed into Slytherin. He would give everyone a chance like his aunt told him to but he did NOT want to be in that house. It just felt wrong to him. As he walked, he failed to notice that he was getting the biggest cheers yet. One of the prefects, the oldest of the present Weasleys, stood up and shook his hand vigorously and introduced himself as Percy while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"

Harry mentally groaned at this while he sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff he'd seen earlier. The ghost patted his arm, giving Harry the sudden horrible feeling he'd just plunged it into a bucket of ice cold water.

He could see the High Table properly now. At the end nearest him sat Hagrid, who caught his eye and gave him the thumbs up. Harry grinned back before scanning the rest of the table. In the center was the headmaster himself. As their eyes met, Dumbledore's eyes seemed to gain an extra twinkle in them as he gave a small smile to Harry. Dumbledore's silver hair was the only thing that was shining in the light as bright as the ghost's scattered throughout the hall. Harry's sight continued down the line spotting the few other teachers that he had met before. When he made eye contact with the potions teacher Professor Snape, said teacher glared at him before turning to speak with the professor next to him who seemed to be a nervous wreck and was wearing a large purple turban which looked very peculiar among the rest of the teachers.

And now there were only four people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean," a black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry at the Gryffindor table. "Turpin, Lisa" became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now. Harry watched him nervously place the hat on his head. A second later the hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to him.

"Well done, Ron, excellent." Said Percy pompously across Harry as "Zambini, Blaise" was made a Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away. As she did, Harry looked down at his empty gold plate. He had only just realized how hungry he was. The snacks from the train seemed ages ago.

He then looked up as the headmaster got to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.

"Welcome!" he said "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

He sat back down while everybody clapped and cheered. Harry rose an eyebrow as the headmaster showed a side that he had never seen before. Shaking his head and writing it off as just another one of the powerful wizard's quirks, Harry looked back to the table where his mouth fell open at the sight in front of him.

The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamp chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.

There had never been a real shortage of food at the dinner table at the Dursley's even with Dudley's appetite that never seemed to be satisfied with Petunia limiting how much he ate, but this was just ridiculous! There had to be enough food within Harry's reach to last Dudley a full day. Deciding to give everything a shot, Harry begin piling a little bit of everything but the peppermints on his plate and began to eat. It was all delicious.

"That does look good." Said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak.

Harry looked up from his cutting and frowned while saying "I didn't think ghosts ate?"

"Well yes, we don't need to of course," said the ghost "but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."

"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you - you're Nearly Headless Nick!"

"I would _prefer_ you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-" the ghost began stiffly but sandy-haired Seamus Finnigan interrupted.

"_Nearly_ headless? How can you be _nearly_ headless?"

Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going all the way he wanted.

"Like _this_." he said irritably. He then seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly.

Harry's eyebrow shot straight up as he thought 'Damn, that must have hurt!'

Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed, and said "So- new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable - he's the Slytherin ghost."

Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face and robes stained with silver blood. He was right next to Malfoy who, Harry was pleased to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements.

"How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest.

"I've never asked." said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.

'Probably died in a battle or something else like that.' Harry thought as he looked at the ghost's shirt which was literally soaked in the stuff.

When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-o, rice pudding…

As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families.

"I'm half-and-half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mom didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."

The others laughed.

"What about you, Neville?" Ron asked.

"Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," Said Neville, "but the family thought I was all-Muggle for ages. My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me - he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned - but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced - all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here - they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."

As Neville talked, Harry had his eyebrow raised as he thought 'I'm glad that my magic activated when it did and that I didn't have anyone like that trying to force it. I would have probably ended up killing the guy if it was me."

On Harry's other side, Percy Weasley and Hermione were talking about lessons.

"I _do_ hope they start right away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult -"

"You'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thin-"

Harry rolled his eyes as he caught parts of what they were saying.

'She's all ready learned all of this year's courses and she still wants to learn more? Definitely should have been in Ravenclaw. Still, the Sorting Hat must have know what it was doing I guess.'

Harry was beginning to feel warm and sleepy so pushed his plate away and looked back up at the head table. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Snape was still talking to the professor in that absurd turban.

Professor Snape then looked past the teacher's turban straight into Harry's eyes again. Right after, a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Harry's forehead.

Harry yelped and clapped a hand to his head. As he did, Professor Snape narrowed his eyes in thought as Dumbledore frowned slightly when he caught what happened out of the corner of his eye.

Percy looked up from his conversation with Hermione and asked what was wrong but Harry just waved it off. The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Harry had gotten from the professor's look. If Harry hadn't known that Professor Snape hadn't liked him before, he definitely knew now.

Shaking his head to rid the feeling, Harry turned his head to take another look around the hall. At last, the deserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.

"Ahem - just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. ('Watered? What are we plants?' Harry thought with a raised eyebrow.) I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.

"Quiddicth trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Harry rose an eyebrow before turning to Percy and muttered "He's not serious is he? What could possibly be in that corridor that would make him say that?"

Percy frowned at Dumbledore and said "Must be. Your guess is as good as mine though. It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere - the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."

Harry frowned before Dumbledore led the whole group into singing the school song. As he did, Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles became a little forced. He soon found out why as the school sang the song when Dumbledore created a golden ribbon that wrote out the words. Shaking his head at the utter ridiculous of the song, Harry lightly applauded with the rest of the students. (I refuse to write that song down here. Trust me when I say that you do not want to hear it.)

"Ah music" Dumbledore said as he wiped his eyes "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

The Gryffindor first years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up the marble staircase. Harry's legs were beginning to feel like lead because he was so tired and full of food. Even in his tired state though, Harry did his best to memorize the route they were taking as Percy led them especially when he led them twice through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries. They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, and Harry was just wondering how much further they had to go when they came to a sudden halt.

A bundle of walking sticks was floating in midair ahead of them, and as Percy took a step toward them they started throwing themselves at him.

"Peeves," Percy whispered to the first years. "A Poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves - show yourself."

A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered.

"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"

There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks.

"Ooooooooooooh!" He said with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!"

He swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked. Reacting on instinct, Harry spread his feet and rose his right arm with the standard sign for a low-level spell pointing at Peeves with his left hand holding the bottom of his right. (Think of how you would hold a pistol steady.)

But before he could do anything, Percy barked out "Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!"

Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head. They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armor as he passed. As he left, Harry dropped his hands doing his best to ignore the odd looks he had received.

"You want to watch out for Peeves," Said Percy, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are."

At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.

"Password?" she said.

"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it - Neville needed a leg up - and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs.

Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase - they were obviously in one of the towers - they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains, Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed.

"Great food, isn't it?" Ron muttered to Harry through the hangings. "Get _off_, Scabbers! He's chewing my sheets."

Harry rolled his eyes and got into the bed. And as soon as his head hit the pillow he was out like a light.


	6. The Potions Master

6 The Potions Master

Author's Notes: Sorry this took so long. I'm afraid I've been losing focus on these. Add to the fact that school is coming up and my updates might take a while. Don't worry, I'm still going to get them out as soon as I can, but there won't be any multiple updates each day for a while. Also, you may want to take a look at my potential stories. I've posted a couple of things you may find interesting.

Harry thought that he would have to deal with a little bit of hero worship from what happened when he was little. He was wrong. Little didn't cover even a fraction of what he went through the first week. The instant he would step out of Gryffindor tower, heads would turn and people would stop their conversations and begin whispering about him.

Unfortunately, almost all of the students hero worshiping him wasn't all of Harry's problems. It seemed that even the school itself was against him at times. Although to be fair, every first year had trouble that first week finding their classes as staircases changed, suits of armor moved, walls pretended to be doors, doors sometimes had to be opened just the right way, and the people in the paintings kept visiting each other. All in all, it was next to impossible for the first years to find their classes on time. And don't even get started on what Peeves, the resident poltergeist, would do to them when ever he came across them. And then there was the caretaker, Argus Filch and his pet cat Mrs. Norris. Those two seemed determined to catch the students doing anything wrong. If you sneezed without a handkerchief in his presence he would try to assign you detention.

Harry did his best to take everything in stride. The only thing that kept him from going insane from all the chaos around him was the classes. Harry thought he had a good grasp on the basics of magic. He was wrong. Turns out some parts of magic was a bit more complex than he thought.

Take Herbology for instance. The class was taught by Professor Sprout and was taught in the green houses behind the castle. The students had to be able to identify a number of plants and explain what their uses were. Not an easy thing to do when some of them looked almost the exact same as some of the others.

Astronomy could be just as bad. Taught at midnight on Wednesdays where they had to study the night skies through their telescopes and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets.

Easily the most boring class was History of Magic, which was the only one taught by a ghost. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down names and dates, and got Emeric the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up. It was so bad that by the time the bell rang, only a few students, mainly the most devoted Ravenclaws and Hermione, were still awake.

Charms was one of the better ones in Harry's book. Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. However, as Harry could tell people from previous experience, the diminutive professor was not one to underestimate. Rumor had it that the professor had been a dueling champion before taking up teaching, and Harry believed it. When he reached Harry's name, he grinned and said "Good to see you again Harry." making the rest wonder when the two had met.

Another one of the few teachers that Harry actually knew about before coming to school, Professor McGonagall was one teacher you did not want to cross. Strict and clever, she gave them a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first class.

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," She said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

McGonagall looked each student in the eye showing she meant business. She kept her gaze on Harry slightly longer than the rest making the young wizard wonder if she still held the accident two years ago where he had transfigured her tea cup into a flute when it still had tea in it causing it to spill on her robes against him.

Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. The rest of the class was all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized they weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Harry and Hermione Granger had made any difference to their matches. Harry had managed to turn his match into a toothpick with one pointy side. (He probably could have gone all the way using his low-level magic, but Mcgonagal had been very firm on Harry only using the actual spell the rest of the class was using.) Professor McGonagall showed the class how Hermione's had gone all silver and pointy and gave her a rare smile.

The class everyone had really been looking forward to was Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Professor Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke. His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days. His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but they weren't sure they believed this story. For one thing, when Seamus Finnigan asked eagerly to hear how Quirrell had fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather; and for another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban, and the Weasley twins insisted that it was stuffed full of garlic as well, so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went.

Harry was ready for the weekend on Friday. Magic classes were a lot harder than Muggle classes were.

"What have we got today?" Harry asked Ron who was sitting beside him as he poured sugar on his porridge.

"Double Potions with the Slytherins." Ron said earning a groan from Harry. He had done as his aunt had told him and tried to keep an open mind. But all throughout the week, the Slytherins had constantly antagonized the students from the other houses. As far as Harry could tell, there was only a very small number of Slytherins who did not think of themselves as better than the whole school population no matter what their year.

The worst had to be Malfoy. He was constantly advertising the fact that his family was one of the richest and most "powerful" pure blood family. Add to the fact that he always complained when he didn't get what he wanted, he'd complain about how his father would hear about whatever it was that day. Suffice to say that Harry decided he definitely did not like the guy.

Bad enough that they had to have a double class of anything with the Slytherins. Add the fact that said class was going to have Professor Snape as the teacher, and you've got a headache the size of London.

Ron frowned and said "Isn't Snape the head of the house? They say he always favors them, well, I guess we'll be able to see if it's true."

"Wish McGonagall favored us." Said Harry even though he knew she wouldn't. She might have been head of Gryffindor House, but it hadn't stopped her from giving them a huge pile of homework the day before.

Just then, the mail arrived. First couple of days gave him a bit of a shock seeing all of those owls come flying in all at once circling around the tables before dropping their packages down to their owners. Harry had gotten a letter from Aunt Petunia the second day of classes asking how he was handling the school, and he had sent a reply that same day. Other than that though, Hedwig had simply come to grab a piece of toast or to nibble on Harry's ear before going to sleep in the owlery with the other school owls.

This morning however, she fluttered down between the marmalade and the sugar bowl and dropped a note onto Harry's plate. Harry tore it open at once. It said, in a very untidy scrawl:

_Dear Harry,_

_I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three? I want to hear all about your first week. Send me an answer back with Hedwig._

_Hagrid_

Harry borrowed Ron's quill, scribbled _Yes please, see you later_ on the back of the note, and sent Hedwig off again.

It was lucky that Harry had tea with Hagrid to look forward to, because the Potions lesson turned out to be even worse than he expected.

Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.

Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the roll call, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name.

"Ah, yes," He said softly, "Harry Potter, our new celebrity."

Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands. As they did, Harry and Snape had a staring contest. Harry knew that Snape was trying to unnerve him but refused to give the potions master the satisfaction of him turning away first. After a full minute, Snape looked back down at the roll and finished calling names before looking back up at the class as a whole. Even though his eyes were black like Hagrid's, they had no warmth in them. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making." he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word - like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through the human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses… I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

More silence followed his little speech. Harry exchanged a look with Ron who was once again sitting beside him and the two rose their eyebrows while Hermione was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead.

"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harry frowned and tried to remember what he had read over the summer but came up blank. Shaking his head he said "I don't know sir."

Hermione's hand shot up into the air but Snape ignored it as his lips curled into a sneer.

"Tut, tut - fame clearly isn't everything."

Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins snickered as Harry mentally frowned but before he could say anything Snape continued.

"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you find me a bezoar?"

Harry thought 'Now that's something I do know.' Looking back up he said "A bezoar is a stone found in a goat's stomach. It's considered one of the best ways to cure someone of poison if you don't know for sure what a person has been poisoned with."

Snape sneered and said "That is correct. But I did not ask what it does. Five points from Gryffindor for acting like a know it all Potter."

The Slytherins snickered again while the Gryffindors groaned. Harry frowned but said nothing. Things didn't improve for the Gryffindors as the Potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Malfoy, whom he seemed to like.

He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and loud hissing filled the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.

"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.

"Take him up to the hospital wing" Snape spat at Seamus. Then he rounded on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Neville.

"You- Potter- why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."

Harry was really beginning to wonder if he should try and kill, or at least do bodily harm to his Potions teacher. How the hell was he supposed to notice someone else's mistake when they weren't his partner. Harry narrowed his eyes but didn't say anything knowing that Snape was trying to get a rise out of him. His magic tried to flare in reaction to his anger but he locked down on it as hard as he could knowing that it would only make things worse.

As they climbed the steps out of the dungeon an hour later, Harry's mind was trying to figure out ways to prank Snape without getting caught. Snape hadn't stopped sniping Harry after the cauldron accident. He had actually seemed to increase it. Three times in the last hour, Harry had had to restrain his magic.

"Cheer up." Ron said as walked up the stairs next to him. "Snape's always taking points off Fred and George."

Harry sighed and said "It's not the points I'm worried about Ron. It's having at least five years with him teaching. The one time Professor Snape had come over to my relative's house to give me a basic course on Potions, he made it perfectly clear that he does not like me. He's going to make my life as much a living hell as possible, you just watch. I mean come on, sure my dad used to play pranks on him all the time from what Aunt Petunia told me, but does he have to take it out on me?"

Hermione who had been behind them cocked her head and asked "Why did you have so many professors come to your house teaching you before you even stepped foot in Hogwarts Harry? Professor Flitwick and McGonagall seemed familiar with you and now you're saying Snape had been to your house as well."

Harry looked over his shoulder at the bushy haired girl and said "I had to learn how to control my magic at a pretty early age. I have a stronger magical core than most people my age due to what happened when I was one. If I wasn't careful, I could have blown my aunt's house sky high every time I got angry."

Hermione's mouth gained an o shape before she excused herself when the three reached the top of the staircase claiming that she wanted to look through the library again before lunch.

Harry simply shook his head at this and thought 'She needs to get out more. She's never going to get any friends if she spends every single moment of free time in there.'

As the two boys walked into the great hall with the rest of the students, Ron said "Mind if I come with you to Hagrid's?"

Harry shrugged and said "Sure." Harry spent the rest of the lunch break getting to know some of the other Gryffindors better before he and Ron got up to leave for Hagrid's at five to three.

The two left the castle and made their way across the grounds towards Hagrid's house which was on the edge of the forbidden forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were outside the front door.

When Harry knocked they heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks. Then Hagrid's voice rang out saying "Back Fang, back."

Hagrid's big hairy face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open. Seeing the two he said "Hang on, back Fang."

He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boar hound. There was only one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.

"Make yourself at home." Hagrid said letting go of Fang, who bounded straight at Rona and started licking his ears. Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not as fierce as he looked.

"This is Ron." Harry told Hagrid, who was boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes onto a plate.

"Another Weasley eh?" said Hagrid glancing at Ron's freckles. "I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest." (Now I know that's what's in the book, but that doesn't make sense considering Hagrid was expelled forty nine years ago.)

Harry cocked an eyebrow and said "Why would they want to go in there? From what I've heard there's some pretty nasty animals in ther."

Hagrid gave a who knows gesture before sitting down and telling them to tell him all about their first week of classes. Harry and Ron were delighted to hear Hagrid call Filch "that old git."

"An' as fer that cat, Mrs. Norris, I'd like to introduce her to Fang sometime. D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school, she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her - Filch puts her up to it."

Harry then told Hagrid about Snape's lesson. Hagrid's response was like Ron's.

"Ah, don't yeh be worrying about it Harry. Snape hardly likes any of the students. Yeh'll get used to him."

Harry snorted and said "Easy for you to say. You don't have him holding a grudge against you for whatever my father did to the greasy bat. By the way Hagrid, do you know what my father did to him? The only thing Aunt Petunia would tell me whenever I asked was that he would play a lot of pranks on him."

Hagrid shook his head and said "Sorry, I'm afraid can't really say anything about that."

Harry sighed and muttered under his breath "Of course you can't."

"How's yer brother Charlie?" Hagrid asked Ron, changing the subject. "I liked him a whole lot - great with animals."

Harry wondered why no one would ever give him a straight answer whenever he asked about the bad blood between Snape and his father.

While Ron told Hagrid all about Charlie's work with dragons, Harry picked up a piece of paper that was lying on the table under the tea cozy. It was a cutting from the Daily Prophet:

**Gringotts Break-In Latest**

_Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown._

_Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day._

_"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you." said a Gringotts spokes goblin this afternoon._

Harry remembered Ron telling him on the train that someone had tried to rob Gringotts, but Ron hadn't mentioned the date.

"Hey Hagrid, this break in everyone's talking about. It happened the same day me and Aunt Petunia met you at Diagon Alley. It might've happened while we were at the bank."

Hagrid didn't meet his eyes as he said "Rubbish! If a robbery had been in progress while we were there, your aunt would have sensed it don't you think?"

Harry had to give him that since according to Petunia, that whole place had a ton of wards and as a sensor she would have sensed one going off. But why did Hagrid avoid looking at him when he spoke? Did he know something about the break-in? He did go to the bank on Dumbledore's orders. Maybe he had gotten whatever it was out of the vault on time.

As Harry and Ron walked back to the castle, Harry was in deep thought wondering what could have been in the vault and if Dumbledore had anything to do with it. He briefly wondered if he should write a letter about this to his aunt but quickly dismissed the thought. Petunia may have been a sensor but that didn't mean she knew about everything out there. The chances of her having been part of the investigation and actually able to tell him anything were pretty low.

Walking into the Great Hall with Ron, he thought 'Whatever those guys were after, it's probably somewhere no one will find it anytime soon.' However, Harry couldn't help but remember his aunt's words.

"There is no place safer than Gringotts if you want something protected. Well except for Hogwarts maybe."


	7. The Midnight Duel

7. The Midnight Duel

Author's Notes: Hey guys, just showing that I'm not dead and that I haven't given up on this one. I do plan on reaching a stopping point on my two more recent Naruto stories before coming back to this one and then I'll work on this till first year.

Harry was pretty sure that he would never find anyone he did not like more than Dudley and his gang, but that was before he met Draco Malfoy. Still, first-year Gryffindors only had Potions with the Slytherins, so they didn't have to put up with Malfoy and the other Slytherins much. Or at least they didn't until they spotted a notice pined up in the Gryffindor common room that made them all groan. Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday - and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together.

"Typical," said Harry darkly. "The one class besides Potions with Slytherins that we have and it's one that I'll probably make a fool of myself."

He had been nervously looking forward to learning to fly more than anything else ever since Aunt Petunia had told him about the toy broom that he had when he was one. But a small part of him had thought that he was going to make a complete fool of himself.

"You don't know that you'll make a fool of yourself," Said Ron reasonably. "Anyway, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk."

Malfoy certainly did talk about flying a lot. He complained loudly about first years never getting on the house Quidditch teams and told long, boastful stories that always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters. He wasn't the only one, though: the way Seamus Finnigan told it, he'd spent most of his childhood zooming around the countryside on his broom stick. Even Ron would tell anyone who'd listen about the time he'd almost hit a hang glider on Charlie's old broom.

Harry had did his best to ignore all of the stories since he was fairly certain that they were all tall tales. Although he did wonder how Malfoy could describe a helicopter so well but he wasn't planning on ever asking the Slytherin how he knew what a helicopter even was.

One thing that everyone had in common though was that everyone from wizarding families talked about Quidditch constantly. Ron had already had a big argument with Dean Thomas, who shared their dormitory, about soccer. Ron couldn't see what was exciting about a game with only one ball where no one was allowed to fly. He didn't seem to realize that muggles had different standards to what implied a proper game. Harry had even caught Ron prodding Dean's poster of West Ham soccer team, trying to make the players move.

Neville on the other hand had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one. Privately, Harry felt she'd had good reason, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground.

Hermione was almost as nervous about flying as Neville was although Harry couldn't blame her considering what he knew about her. This was something you couldn't learn by heart out of a book - not that she hadn't tried. At breakfast on Thursday she bored them all stupid with flying tips she'd gotten out of a library book called _Quidditch Through the Ages._ Neville was hanging on to her every word, desperate for anything that might help him hang on to his broomstick later, but everybody else was very pleased when Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the mail.

A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them a glass ball the size of a large marble which seemed to be full of white smoke.

"It's a Remembrall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things - this tells you've if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look you hold it tight like this and if it turns red - oh…" His face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet, "…you've forgotten something…"

"Now if only it told you what you forgot." Harry said earning a nod from Neville. As he was trying to remember what he'd forgotten, Malfoy passed the Gryffindor table and snatched the Remembrall out of his hand.

Harry and Ron jumped to their feet with Harry's pointer and middle fingers already split and sparking. They were both half hoping for a reason to fight Malfoy to put him in his place, but Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school, was there in a flash.

"What's going on?"

"Malfoy's got my Remembrall Professor."

Scowling, Malfoy quickly dropped the Remembrall back on the table.

"Just looking," He said.

"Well next time ask first Mr. Malfoy." Professor McGonagall said as he sloped away with Crabbe and Goyle behind him.

Once the three were past him, Harry let the self defense spell die out and sat back down with Ron while Professor McGonagall stared at the boy as if wanting to say something but then shook her head and headed back to the staff table.

At three-thirty that afternoon, the Gryffindors hurried down the front steps onto the grounds for their first flying lesson. It was a clear, breezy day, and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns toward a smooth, flat lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the forbidden forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance.

The Slytherins were already there, and so were twenty broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground. Harry had heard Fred and George Weasley complain about the school brooms, saying that some of them started to vibrate if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left.

Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk.

"Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

Harry glanced down at his broom as he stood beside it. It was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles, but Harry somehow knew that he had chosen one of the better ones.

Once everyone was in place, Madam Hooch said "Now put your right hands over your brooms and say UP!"

As soon as the last letter was out of Harry's mouth, the broom shot up into his outstretched hand earning a raised eyebrow and grin from Madam Hooch when she saw it happen. The other brooms had various reactions. Some shot up a second after the word was spoken while others just rolled on the ground. One such case was Neville's broom which didn't even twitch showing that the boy clearly wanted both feet to stay firmly on the ground.

Harry glanced over at Hermione who was beside him as she kept saying up only for the broom to roll around. He considered her for a moment before saying "Try not to think about it so much."

Hermione looked up from her broom at him in confusion and said "What?"

Harry shrugged and said "You might be over thinking things. Forget everything you read about in the books and just picture the broom jumping to your hand."

Hermione seemed to struggle with the thought of letting go of any kind of knowledge even temporarily before a calm look settled on her face before she gave the command.

"Up!"

The broom shot into Hermione's hand so fast she actually rocked a little trying to keep her balance. Madam Hooch smirked from her spot and thought 'He gives good advice. And if that boy's not every inch a natural in the air like his father then I'll be very surprised.'

After everyone had their broomsticks in hand, Madam Hooch showed them how to mount them so that they didn't slide off while flying. Harry had to suppress a smirk as she tore apart the way Malfoy claimed he had been flying before he took the class.

Once everyone was properly positioned, Madam Hooch said "Now that everyone won't fall off right after you push off, we are going to work on hovering. When I count to three, I want you to kick off like you are jumping a couple of feet in the air and picture yourself hovering. Do not go higher than a few feet."

The students nodded and Madam Hooch began counting, but just before she said three, a nervous Neville kicked off far harder than he should have and the broom began climbing at a rapid pace.

"Mr. Longbottom! Get down here this instant!" Madam Hooch cried out before Neville seemed to panic even more and the broom started bucking like a bull ride at a bar that Harry had seen in an American movie once. Neville finally lost his grip on his broom at a height of twenty feet and it bucked him off. As he fell, screams came from most of the girls as he neared the ground before suddenly stopping five feet from the ground.

Madam Hooch had her wand out but she was currently looking at Harry who had his right arm pointed at Neville with his hand in a familiar hand sign. Harry slowly lowered his arm and Neville landed on the ground a lot softer than he would have as the raven haired boy gave a sigh as he slumped a little and wiped a bead of sweat that had appeared on his forehead.

"That was close. I almost didn't react in time." Harry said softly as he walked over and offered Neville a hand and asked "You alright there Neville?"

"Yeah, thanks." Neville said as he grabbed Harry's hand while blushing in embarrassment.

"Excellent reflexes Mr. Potter. Ten points to Gryffindor for quick thinking."

Harry nodded before he spotted Neville's Remembrall on the ground. Bending down to pick it up, he grabbed it and handed it to Neville who blushed a little more before muttering a thanks.

The rest of the class went fairly smoothly. Turns out that Malfoy hadn't been lying when he bragged about how good he was on a broom. Harry didn't even think about that more than just as a passing thought though since he was too busy enjoying his own flight which seemed to come as naturally as breathing to him as Madam Hooch led them in basic maneuvers and a flight around the castle.

Once they were back on the ground, Madam Hooch said "Now that everyone has a feel for the basics, we can start working on precision. I'm going to set up some rings and make a course for you to follow. After everyone has had a chance to go through, I'll set up another course. There will be a total of twenty courses. Everyone is required to do the first course but after that you have the option to go to the next level or not. However, by the end of the year I expect you all to be able to do all twenty of them for your final."

Harry was again nervous at first when Madam Hooch had them do the courses one at a time but soon found himself doing the fifth level fairly easily. As time passed on, the people doing the next course began declining until it was just him and Malfoy doing the tenth course.

As Harry landed from his run, Madam Hooch said "Well done Mr. Potter. Now the next courses are the same as before but are timed. Do you and Mr. Malfoy think your ready for them?"

Malfoy smirked and said "Of course." While Harry simply nodded. Madam Hooch nodded as well before waving her wand and rearranging the rings into the positions they were the first time.

Half an hour later, Madam Hooch announced that they were out of time and told everyone to meet back for their next lesson in a week at the same time. Looking towards Harry as he began to make his way towards the castle, she thought 'He certainly is a natural on that broom. He was able to make it to the fifteenth course while Mr. Malfoy only made it to number thirteen. Looks like Wood has his new seeker.'

Coming to a decision, she called out "Mr. Potter, please stay for a moment."

Harry looked confused but told Ron to go ahead and he'd meet up with him later. Ron shrugged and made his way to the castle as the others began talking to themselves wondering why their flying teacher wanted to talk to the boy.

"Yes Madam Hooch?" Harry asked as he walked over.

The woman studied the boy for a moment before she said "Tell me Mr. Potter, what do you know about Quidditch?"

Harry looked surprised by the question but said "Well my aunt described the game to me so I know most of the rules but I've never actually seen it played."

"I see." Madam Hooch said as she took out a small ball that had small wings wrapped around it from her robe that Harry recognized as a snitch as she continued "Do you mind if I let this loose so you can try to catch it Mr. Potter? The Gryffindor team is short of a seeker and I think you could fill in for them nicely. I'd like to make sure though before I tell its team captain."

Harry's eyes widened and he said "But I thought first years weren't allowed to play on the teams."

Madam Hooch nodded and said "Normally that's true. However, if a team does not have a player and if a first year is the only one who can fill the slot then that student is allowed to play. Wood, the captain needs a seeker but none of the older students who tried to get the position made the cut. I think you might though."

Harry frowned in thought but nodded. Madam Hooch gave her own nod and tapped the snitch in her hand with her wand while saying an incantation. The ball's wings opened and stretched out to their limits as if the ball was waking up from a long sleep before they began flapping rapidly lifting the ball off the hand it rested on.

The ball hovered for a moment before shooting off and stopping fifty feet away from the two and then began flying around them constantly zigzagging in all directions but still staying within a hundred feet of Madam Hooch.

Harry did his best to follow the snitch with his eyes as Madam Hooch said "Alright Mr. Potter, I want you to try to catch the snitch from behind in less than two minutes."

Harry nodded and quickly mounted his broom and kicked off towards the snitch which began flying the other way as if it could sense Harry heading towards it. As the snitch did its best to avoid Harry, he found himself entering a type of tunnel vision where he was still peripherally aware of everything around him but most of his focus was on trying to predict where the snitch would go next.

Ten minutes later, Madam Hooch and Harry were outside the classroom where Professor Flitwick was teaching a class of fifth year Gryffindors and Hippogriffs as Madam Hooch stood in the door way and said "Fidelus, do you mind if I borrow Wood for a little bit?

Flitwick shook his head and one of the Gryffindor boys got out of his seat and walked out of the classroom glancing at Harry in curiosity when he spotted him. Madam Hooch closed the classroom door and then made a follow me gesture as she began walking down the hall. The two boys followed with Wood stealing curious glances every now and then. After a few minutes of walking, they stopped at another door and Madam Hooch knocked on the door.

Harry heard a familiar voice say "Enter."

As the three entered the room, Harry realized that they were in his head of house's office with Professor McGonagall looking up from grading some essays. When she saw who had come in, she rose an eyebrow and said "Is something the matter Silvia?"

Madam Hooch shook her head and said "No Minerva, if anything, things are going quite well. You see, I believe I found your house's team their new seeker."

Both Professor McGonagall and Wood's eyes widened before both looked at Harry with Wood studying the boy with a keen eye.

"Are you sure?" McGonagall asked.

Madam Hooch nodded and said "Quite. Harry was able to get to the fifteenth course before we ran out of time today and when I tested him with the practice snitch he was able to catch it in just over a minute."

"I see," McGonagall said before glancing at the older student in her office who now was showing new interest in the younger one and said "Mr. Wood, what do you think?"

Wood started walking around Harry making him nervous as he said "Well he has a good build for a seeker. Obviously I'd like to see what he can do myself, but all in all I think he would make a good seeker. We'll have to get him a broom though, and not one of the older models either. I'd recommend a CleanSweep Seven or a Nimbus Two Thousand."

McGonagall nodded and said "I'll talk with the Headmaster and see what I can do."

Thirty minutes later, Harry and Wood, who Harry had learned first name's Oliver were standing in the Quidditch field on a couple of brooms with Harry chasing after the small balls that Oliver would throw all over the pitch trying to catch them before the landed on the ground. In the stands, Madam Hooch and Professor McGonagall watched smiling as Harry caught each ball usually before they dropped more than twenty feet in their flight. After ten minutes the two headed down to the ground and the two teachers joined them.

"So what's the final verdict Mr. Wood?" Madam Hooch asked.

"I'd say we have a winner." Oliver said grinning at the fact that he now had a full team again.

That night at dinner, Harry told Ron about what happened and he was quite surprised that Harry was allowed to play.

"Seeker? But first years are never allowed to play. You must be the youngest seeker in a century!"

Harry nodded as he bit into his mashed potatoes before swallowing and said "So Oliver said. Still, I'm not so sure how good I'll do."

"Ah, you'll do fine Harry." Fred said as he and George came up behind the two.

"I do believe that congratulations are in order, don't you Fred?" George asked as he gave Harry a noogie before letting go grinning as Harry tried to get his even messier than usual hair back under control.

"I believe you are right oh twin of mine." Fred said as he clapped a hand on Harry's shoulder and said "Congrats on making the team Harry, Oliver just told us."

"Fred and George are on the team too, beaters." Ron said answering Harry's question before he could ask.

"Yeah, our job is to make sure you don't get hurt." George said grinning placing emphasis on the you.

"I still don't understand what everyone sees in that sport." Hermione said from where she had been eating across and one seat to the right of the two boys.

Everyone who came from wizarding families that were in range to hear that statement stared at the bushy haired girl in shock making her nervous as she asked "What?"

George shook his head and said "My dear Miss Granger, you simply don't understand because you have never seen such a fast paced game with your own eyes."

Hermione scoffed and said "You mean such a violent game. Why anyone would play it when it is more violent than American football, rugby, and soccer combined is beyond me."

Everyone from wizarding families again stared at her but this time with confusion.

"What're those?" Ron asked in confusion causing Hermione to sigh and Seamus Finnigan to launch into a diatribe about the greatness of soccer.

Shaking her head, Hermione looked back to Harry and said "I'm sure you'll do fine Harry. After all, it's in your blood."

Harry nodded in thanks before Ron who had somehow heard her while still listening to Seamus asked "What do you mean by that?"

Everyone once again looked at Hermione and she said "Oh honestly, don't any of you ever explore this castle? Harry's father is on most of the Quidditch trophies that are from when he was in school. He even made seeker of the year three times in a row. Just look in the trophy room. I believe one of your brothers are on a few of those trophies as well Ron."

Ron looked down for a moment as he was reminded momentarily of the expectations his family had of him before standing up and headed off to the trophy room to see if what Hermione had said about Harry's father was true with a bunch of other students getting up and following him.

As they did this, Harry sighed and thought 'I knew dad was seeker for his team but I'm still nervous about that. Still I better send a letter to Aunt Petunia telling her about this.' Standing up, he gave a brief nod to Hermione and left the Great Hall heading to his dorm to grab a quill and piece of parchment before heading to the owlery to write a letter to his aunt.

The next morning at breakfast, Harry received a reply from his aunt when Hedwig landed at the table as usual but with a letter tied to the leg that she held out to him.

Untying the letter and giving Hedwig a piece of bacon before she took off into the owlery, Harry opened the letter and began reading the short note before raising an eyebrow at the end.

Dear Harry,

I'm glad to learn that you were able to make the Quidditch team even if it is rather unusual for a first year to be allowed to play. You can be sure that I will be there for your first game and any others that I can make.

Hoping that you are doing well,

Aunt Petunia

P.S. Please refrain from putting toilet paper all over the outside of the Astronomy tower with your broom like your father and his friends did.

Harry folded the letter and thought 'My dad actually TP'd the Astronomy tower?'

Seeing Harry's odd look, Ron asked "What is it Harry?"

Harry shook his head and said "Just something my Aunt wrote. Apparently my dad and his friends put toilet paper all over the outside of the Astronomy tower once."

Fred and George who were walking by heard him and Fred said "Now why didn't we think of that?" before the two took off to do exactly that.

Shaking his head at his two brothers, Ron said "I don't know what's wrong with those two. I mean they'll never get away with it."

Harry shrugged and said "I don't think that matters to them."

Before Ron could say something to that though, everyone's attention was brought to the ceiling as students noticed three owls flying towards the Gryffindor table with a long package in between them. The owls quickly headed to Harry and landed on the table with the long object in front of him drawing weird looks from everyone as Harry looked at the package in confusion before the owl that was in the lead hopped over to him and held out its leg for Harry to take the letter on its leg off. Naruto quickly untied the letter and read it as the three owls took off out of the Great Hall.

Dear Mr. Potter,

Please do not open the package inside the Great Hall. It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand and we do not want to cause a disturbance by everyone seeing it and asking questions.

Professor McGonagall

Harry glanced up at the head table where Professor McGonagall was and nodded to her before grabbing the package and began to stand up to take it into his dorm. However, when he got up, he came face to face with Malfoy who sneered and said "What's that you have Potter?"

"That's none of your business Malfoy." Harry said trying to brush past him.

Malfoy's sneer turned evil as he said "First years aren't allowed broomsticks Potter."

Whispering began to spread down the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables as those who heard what Malfoy said began whispering that Harry Potter had been sent a broom.

Ron smirked at Malfoy and said "They are when their part of the Quidditch team Malfoy. Now why don't you go back to your own table and leave us alone."

Malfoy sneered and said "Listen Weasley-"

But before Malfoy could degrade the redhead, he found two fingers split in a peace sign sparking right in front of his face.

Crabbe and Goyle tensed as Malfoy followed the fingers and saw Harry's cold green eyes as Harry said "Leave."

Malfoy looked scared for a minute before he slapped the hand away and said "You're all talk Potter. I bet if I challenged you to a wizard's duel you'd back out."

Harry's eyes narrowed and he said "Really, well just name the time and place and I'll be there. It'd be a good chance to put you in your place Malfoy. And considering what my aunt has taught me, it'll be easy."

Malfoy rose an eyebrow and smirked as he said "The trophy room tonight at midnight."

Harry nodded and said "Fine then. Ron will be my second. Do you have any problems with that Ron?"

Ron shook his head and said "I've got no problems with that. So who will be yours Malfoy?"

Malfoy sized up his two bodyguards and said "Crabbe will be. Although I don't see why it matters considering you probably won't show."

Malfoy then walked off with his two thugs following. Harry frowned as he watched them before he was spun around by Hermione who had been sitting nearby as she said "You actually accepted a duel at midnight? Harry, what are you thinking? You could get in serious trouble if your caught out after curfew!"

Harry gently removed Hermione's arm and said "Not if I tell Professor McGonagall and she's there with us when it happens."

He then handed Ron his broomstick to hold as he walked past Hermione while she tried to come up with a reasonable response to that and walked up to the Head Table while the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables again erupted into whispering now that the conflict was done.

As he stopped in front of Professor McGonagall, she looked up from her copy of the Daily Prophet and said "Is something wrong Mr. Potter?"

Harry nodded and said "Malfoy challenged me to a wizard's duel Professor."

McGonagall rose an eyebrow and said "I see. When and where may I ask is this duel to take place?"

"Midnight tonight in the trophy room professor." Harry said.

"Hm, I see. Very well then. I'll inform Professor Snape since it's obvious Mr. Malfoy didn't and ask Professor Flitwick if he will judge the duel. I'll escort you and your second personally so that you don't get in trouble. Thank you for telling me."

Harry nodded and made his way back to where Ron and Hermione were and when he got there Ron asked "Well?"

"She said that she'll inform Professor Snape and ask Professor Flitwick to judge the duel. She also said that she would escort us so that way we don't get in trouble."

Ron nodded while Hermione looked stunned that a teacher would actually allow this to go through.

That night at ten thirty, Ron and Harry made their way down to the Gryffindor common room to meet Professor McGonagall and were surprised to find Hermione there as well. Seeing their surprised looks, she said "I had asked Professor McGonagall if I could watch the duel since I was curious about such an aspect of wizarding society."

Harry rose an eyebrow and thought 'More like she wanted to see more low level spells that Aunt Petunia taught me.'

Shrugging, he and Ron followed Professor McGonagall through the portal outside of the tower and followed her as she led the way to the trophy room. As they reached the room, they noticed that Professor Snape was there scowling at Malfoy and Crabbe who seemed to be looking at anyone but the clearly upset teacher as well as Professor Flitwick.

Noticing the four, Professor Snape gave a court nod to Professor McGonagall and said "Thank you for advising me of this duel Minerva. It seems that young Draco here forgot the school's rules when it comes to informing the student's head of house when declaring a wizard's duel against another student."

Professor McGonagall nodded before turning to Professor Flitwick and gave a brief bow and said "Thank you for agreeing to judge this duel Fidelus." The diminutive professor nodded and said "It's my pleasure Minerva." Turning to Harry, he grinned and said "I'm sure your glad it's not me your dueling though eh Harry?"

Harry had a quick flash back as he remembered dueling against the small professor in an arena underneath a muggle gun club run by a sensor that his aunt had taken him to occasionally.

Flashback

Harry and Flitwick were inside a large wrestling ring type arena with Aunt Petunia giving her nephew pointers on how to use the low level spells he knew to use the objects spread around them to try and force his opponent out of the ring. Near by in bleachers were a couple of sensors watching while on the other side of the ring other sensors were shooting streams of electricity out of their hands down a field at distant targets.

"Now remember Harry, keep an eye on everything around you because it can all be either used for you or against you." Petunia said.

Harry nodded and Petunia nodded to Flitwick who quickly launched a harmless tickling spell at Harry who hurriedly dodged the spell and gestured to a crate near Flitwick and sent it flying. Flitwick though causally flicked his wand sending the crate towards Harry who had to do a somersault to avoid having his head taken off came out with his right arm outstretched and his left hand holding the bottom of his right only to find himself hanging by his right ankle and his hair hot neon pink as the sensors in the bleachers roared out in laughter while Flitwick grinned at him.

End Flashback

Harry shook his head free of the memories and said "Did you really have to turn my hair pink that one time Professor?"

The half goblin grinned as everyone else wondered what the Potter heir was talking about before saying "Not really, but it was funny. Now lets get this duel underway shall we?"

Flitwick then took out his wand and said an incantation before the hard floor of the trophy room turned into softer padding that one would expect to find at a fighting dojo.

Gesturing to Harry and Draco as Flitwick took his position and had the two boys do the same, he said "Alright boys, this here is a wizard's duel, not a muggle's duel. As such, you'll be playing by my rules. Those are: No unforgivables, no dark arts, no lethal spells, and finally, nothing permanent. Understood?"

The two boys nodded and Flitwick said "Duelers: Salute each other."

Harry and Draco brought their wands up in front of their faces and Draco sneered at Harry saying "Scared Potter?"

Harry smirked and said "Hardly. I'm not even going to need my wand for this." Draco's cheeks flushed at this while Ron grinned at those words and Hermione looked curious. The professors meanwhile had their own reactions with Snape thinking that the boy was being too much like his father, Flitwick knowing Harry was right and McGonagall thinking that Harry was being too confident.

As the two boys slashed their wands down and turned to walk away, Harry pocketed his wand before turning around after walking the appropriate amount of steps and took the standard dueling stance except modifying it with his right hand in the standard low level spell hand sign and his left in another while resting lightly against his left knee.

Draco meanwhile smirked thinking that Harry was defenseless at long range without his wand cockily took the standard duelist stance facing Harry sidelong with his right hand over his head with his wand pointed straight at Harry.

"Duelists, at your ready, begin!"

As soon as his former tormenter and current teacher said to begin, Harry instantly moved dodging the Stupefy that Malfoy shot at him and flicked his right hand to the side causing Malfoy to fall to the floor due to something invisible slamming into the side of his legs. As the Malfoy scion fell, Harry made a notion with his left hand and the blond flipped up on his head and began spinning wildly like a top as Harry began spinning his right pointer finger drawing laughter from Ron and an a look of disappointment from Hermione and the teachers except for Flitwick who had done the exact same thing to Harry once.

After half a minute of spinning the Slytherin Harry stopped the spell and let the blond flop to the side near his dropped wand. Malfoy shakily grabbed his wand and stood up before glaring at Harry and shouted out "Pertificus Totatlus!"

Having a good idea what the spell would do, Harry somersaulted to the side and came up with his right arm out stretched and his hands in a pistol grip and his fingers already sparking before a blast of low powered lighting burst out and shot toward Malfoy who only had time to widen his eyes before he got hit and began to twitch uncontrollably.

Harry stood up from his crouching position just as Malfoy's twitching stopped and made another gesture. Only instead of the standard sign for a low level spell, Harry made a pulling motion with his left hand sending Malfoy flying toward Harry before Harry made a thrusting motion with his right hand causing Malfoy to stop in midair folding over something invisible.

Malfoy's eyes widened in pain before he dropped to the floor and curled up in pain not even bothering to reach for his wand as Harry walked over and picked it up before turning to Flitwick who nodded and said "Winner of this duel is Harry Potter."

Harry nodded and flipped Malfoy's wand around into a reverse grip presenting it back to its owner who took it back with a sneer before slapping away Harry's offered hand and got up on his own power. Harry frowned since he was trying to be a good sportsman but shrugged as he walked back to the Gryffindor side.

"Wow Harry, that was so wicked!" Ron said causing Harry to grin.

Hermione on the other hand frowned and asked "Did you have to be so brutal?"

Harry shrugged and said " Would you rather I just threw him across the room until he gave up? That's pretty much the only thing I could have done differently without actually doing anything useful that wasn't permanent."

Hermione frowned even more but dropped it as Professor McGonagall said "Regardless of how Mr. Potter handled himself during his duel, it is still past curfew so if you three will follow me, it is time for you three to get to bed."

The three quickly fell in behind the stern professor as she made her way out of the trophy room. It was a silent trip back to the tower. But as they passed the third floor corridor on the east side, Harry stopped as he felt a breeze coming from the door at the end for the briefest of moments.

Noticing that Harry had stopped, Professor McGonagall turned and said "Is something wrong Mr. Potter?"

Harry took a quick look down the hallway before shaking his head and said "No Professor."

Professor McGonagall nodded and the Gryffindors continued on to the tower. After Professor McGonagall had bid them goodnight, Harry lay in his bed wondering about that breeze that he had felt.

Finally letting his curiosity get the better of him, Harry closed his eyes and activated the locator spell that he had been taught using the third corridor as his focus. As the world turned into the negative one, Harry focused on the bar of light that was representing the third floor corridor. He then switched focus to what was behind the door at the end and gasped at what he saw.


	8. Halloween

8. Halloween

"There is a WHAT in the corridor?"

Harry sighed as he looked up from his plate and stared into his friend's wide eyes as he said "There is currently a Cerberus, a very large, very mean looking three headed dog currently sitting on top of a trap door behind a locked door at the very end of the east third floor corridor."

"And how pray tell, do you know that?" Hermione hissed from where she had absentmindedly sat down beside him with a book and had looked up at Ron's slightly loud exclamation.

Harry gave her a 'Really?' look before he held the now easily recognizable focus hand sign in front of him and his eyes unfocused for a few moments. Then Harry's eyes unclouded and he said "You currently have thirty books that you own in this school. Twenty three are currently in your trunk, one is on your bedside table in the dorm, and the other six are currently in your book bag." Seeing Hermione's jaw dropping, Harry rose an eyebrow and said "Locator spells are curious things. Most of them just point you in the direction you need to go, but there are a couple of really useful ones that actually show you where the object your looking for is." Looking in the direction of the before mentioned corridor, Harry said "I felt something strange from the corridor when we were passing it last night so I checked it out with the locator spell Dumbledore taught me. What I'd like to know is what is something that big doing in the school? Yeah it's a formidable creature, but even I know how to take care of it, just fill the room with about twenty dung bombs to knock it unconscious through smell." Seeing the looks he was getting, Harry blinked and said "What?"

Shaking her head, Hermione said "Going away from the fact that you would even consider going against something like that so carelessly, what was under this trapdoor?"

Harry shrugged and said "No clue. There was a giant concentration of magic under it but all I could see was the corridor underneath it on the second floor which looked absolutely normal. Well, normal for this place anyway."

They were drawn from their conversation by the rush of owls coming in delivering mail for the students. Hedwig swooped down towards Harry with a letter tied to her leg and he handed her a piece of bacon as he untied the letter attached to it. Flicking open the letter, Harry read the message before he glanced up at Professor McGonagall and gave her a quick nod. Tucking the letter into his bag, he grabbed a piece of toast and began spreading a bit of butter on it as he thought 'I hope Oliver goes easy on me today."

"What was in the letter Harry?" Ron asked as he speared three sausages on his fork and brought them to his mouth.

Harry shrugged and said "Not much, just Oliver wanting the Quidditch team at the pitch after lunch in order to get started on getting me used to working with them all."

"Ah." Ron said before he went back to attacking his breakfast.

Nine hours later, Harry was contemplating how he would hide Oliver's body as he slowly trudged his way into the great hall for dinner. Oliver had apparently 'forgot' that it was Harry's first practice and had pushed the poor first year beyond what he thought his body was capable of. Muttering under his breath about how if this was what he could look forward to for the next seven years than he hoped someone would just kill him now. That way at least the torture would be done all at once instead of dragged out for seven long years.

The chuckling of Katie Bell from his right drew him from his inner musings and he glared at the girl who only looked slightly tired compared to his dead on his feet look. Grinning at the little firstie, Katie said "Oh chin up Potter. That was actually a pretty good practice all things considered."

Harry's face soured as he asked "You mean it gets worse?"

"Much worse, especially if there's bad weather." Alicia Spinnet said from Katie's other side. Harry groaned before he walked like a man going to the guillotine towards the Gryffindor table and sat down with his head hitting the table with a loud thunk drawing winces from the lions around him.

Perhaps it was because he was now so busy, what with Quidditch practice three evenings a week on top of all his homework, but Harry could hardly believe it when he realized that he'd already been at Hogwarts two months. The castle was beginning to feel like a second home for him and his lessons were becoming more and more interesting now that they had mastered the basics.

On Halloween morning they woke to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something that made everyone but Harry excited since the site of Harry one time making two umbrellas expertly duel with each other across the Gryffindor common room had made them quite eager to try it themselves. Harry himself was eager to try it in order to see if it was anything like the quasi-telekinesis that the low level levitation spell he used offered. Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practice. Harry was relieved to be partnered with Seamus Finnigan since Neville had been trying to catch his eye. Ron, though, had the misfortune to be working with Hermione. Harry was having a hard time telling which one of the two was angrier about this.

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too - never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."

Harry snorted in amusement at that before he focused on what he wanted his magic to do and gave a swish and flick as he said "Wingardium Leviosa!"

CRACK!

Everyone's eyes trailed up to the ceiling where the feather had buried itself about a quarter of an inch into the stonework tip first with an impressive spider web of cracks surrounding it. Their eyes then trailed back down to look at Harry who rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment as he said "Uh, whoops?"

Shaking his head, Professor Flitwick said "I think you forgot that your not the only thing putting power into the spell now Mr. Potter. Remember, your wand makes it so that you don't have to provide all of the magic. With a wand, you need less buck for your bang as the muggles would put it. I want you to spend the rest of class getting your magic to spell power ratio right. Over there if you would please."

"Yes professor." Harry said blushing in embarrassment as he grabbed another feather and walked over to the corner of the classroom Flitwick had pointed at.

It took him nearly thirty minutes, but after that, Harry thought he finally had enough control on how much magic needed to go into the spell to use it properly. Looking around to see if there was anything besides a feather he could practice on, Harry's eyes landed on where Ron and Hermione were working on the spell and he frowned as he focused on the argument that they were having.

"You're saying it wrong, it's Wing-_gar_-dium Levi-_o-sa,_ make the 'gar' nice and long" Hermione snapped.

"You do it, then, if you're so clever." Ron snarled.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him before she rolled up the sleeves of her robe, flicked her wand, and said "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.

"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick as he gave a slow clap of approval. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"

Needless to say, Ron was in a very bad mood for the rest of the class. Harry just wished he hadn't taken it out on Hermione.

"It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to Harry as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor, "she's a nightmare, honestly."

Harry frowned and was about to defend her when someone knocked into Harry as they hurried past him. It was Hermione. Harry caught a glimpse of her face and frowned in concern at the site of the tears that was rapidly making their way down her face. Frowning, he said "I think she heard you."

"So?" said Ron, "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

Harry spun around and slapped the back of Ron's head earning a satisfying "Ow!" as he said "Well at least she doesn't make other people feel miserable just because she has an inferiority complex! I was hoping you would actually learn to grow up after a while but now I see you're nothing but a jealous git, never willing to learn anything but chess. And for the past two months you've been pushing everybody else away hoping to be my only friend and never doing what I want. Well no more, consider our friendship, what friendship there ever was, over Ron. You clearly have no idea how to properly behave in human society." Harry turned and stomped away leaving a stunned Ron standing by himself in the corridor as everybody around them began talking about what they just saw.

Hermione didn't turn up for the next class and wasn't seen all afternoon. On their way down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, Harry overheard Parvati Patil telling her friend Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girls' bathroom and wanted to be left alone. Harry frowned at this, but as he was considering to go looking for her, he entered the Great Hall, where the Halloween decorations put Hermione out of his mind.

A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet and everyone dug in as the stragglers hurried to find places to sit. Harry ignored Ron waving at him and instead joined Neville who was talking with one of the fifth years about a possible Herbology project the student could try for her OWL project.

Fifteen minutes later, Harry was just helping himself to a baked potato when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, "Troll-in the dungeons-thought you ought to know."

He then sank to the floor in a dead faint.

There was an uproar, but Harry didn't pay it any mind. Instead, he instantly focused his magic and used his locator charm to find the troll. The entire school surrounding him went into negative color before it zoomed down a level to a glowing object that had to be at least twelve feet tall. Harry's eyes widened as he saw the troll heading towards a set of stairs that he knew was only one corridor across from the girls' bathroom on the ground floor. That little bit of info reminded Harry that there was at least one student who was currently not with the others in the Great Hall. Changing the focus to find Hermione, he paled at the sight of her glow coming from directly above the troll.

Cursing, Harry dropped the spell and hopped on top of the table and began sprinting down it to the large double doors ahead of him ignoring the shouts from the professors who had just gotten everyone else to calm down. A split second of concentration, and Harry practically blurred with how fast he was going as he poured magic into his legs like his aunt had taught him. He dove off the table at the end and went into a somersault before he came back up running just as fast as before. Cursing to himself, he thought 'I'm going to find a really big stick and whack Ron with it. Repeatedly. This would not be happening if he hadn't opened his big mouth.'

He slid into the hallway containing the girls' bathroom and rushed the door. Reaching five feet of the door, Harry threw his hand out and blasted the door with his limited telekinesis throwing it open and slamming it into the wall it was connected to. Sliding into the bathroom, he saw a startled Hermione at the last sink who opened her mouth to admonish him for coming into a girls bathroom before he rushed over and grabbed her arm.

"Come on, we've got to get out of here. There's a twelve foot tall troll coming and I do not want to be here went it gets here." Harry said as he began pulling her towards the door. "Harry what-" Hermione started only to cut off her sentence as the most revolting stench either had ever smelt before suddenly invaded the room they were in.

Turning around, Harry's eyes widened at the sight of the fully grown mountain troll that was staring dumbly down at the two. He was right about it being twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite gray, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.

"Well shit." Harry muttered. The troll blinked. Then it roared and raised its club up high and began walking towards them. Harry shot out his right arm in a pushing manner hoping to blast it into the far wall. The troll's feet slid back and inch and the troll looked down at them in confusion before seeming to shrug it off and continued as if nothing happened. Frowning, Harry said "Well that worked real well."

Turning to the sinks, Harry thought 'If telekinesis won't work, maybe blunt force trauma well.' Gesturing at the sink closest to the troll, Harry telekinetically ripped it out causing water to rush out of the now uncapped water pipe that had been attached to it. Harry lifted it to the same height as the troll's head catching its attention. As the troll turned its head to stare at it in confusion, Harry threw his arm to the side and the porcelain sink slammed into the troll's head shattering into a dozen pieces in the process. The troll blinked stupidly at the impact before it roared in anger and began swinging its club around smashing even more sinks.

"Well that didn't work either." Harry muttered as he pushed Hermione behind him to the wall behind them and began backing up as well. Seeing the water that was hitting one of the troll's legs and making a rather large puddle around its feet, Harry shrugged and thought 'Ah, what the hell.' Sliding his left foot forward and his right foot back, Harry brought his hands forward in a two handed pistol grip with his right pointer and middle fingers straight. Hermione had just enough time to wonder what he was doing before a bolt of lightning shot out of his fingers and slammed into the troll's wet foot making it grunt in slight pain as the water conducted the electricity. The short blast of electricity stopped after a few seconds and as a few odd sparks came from the leg, the troll turned its head and seemed to glare at Harry.

"Oh well done, now you've gone and made it mad." Hermione said.

Turning his head to look at her, Harry said "I don't see you doing anything." Turning back around, Harry switched his grip so that his left hand was now holding his right wrist and his ring finger joining the other two. Harry was then surround by a thinly glowing aura as he brought the full power of his rather large magic reserves to the surface and let loose with a three inch thick stream of continuous lightning. The wider than normal stream of electricity slammed into the troll's leg and the troll actually roared in pain as the electricity arced all over its body. It took a shuddering step towards the two students and began raising its club in preparation of crushing the rather annoying and painful nuisance before Harry upped the wattage of his attack even further causing the troll to roar again. Fifteen seconds later, the troll gave one last roar before it toppled forward causing Harry and Hermione to jump to the side to avoid being flattened by the thing.

Hermione stared at the troll that was letting off the occasional spark in shock as the adrenaline rush finally started leaving her body. She glanced at Harry when he said "Glad that thing's not coming at us anymore." only to gasp in shock as she saw smoke drifting past his chin. Her eyes darted down to his hand and her hands flew to her mouth in horror as she gasped out "Harry, your fingers!"

"Yeah, I know." Harry said through gritted teeth as he held his right hand tightly. The three fingers he had used as a directional focus point for that last spell were burned to a black crisp and looked to have been fused together.

Suddenly, the two heard the sound of a group of footsteps come thundering down the hallway outside the bathroom and the two first years looked up from Harry's ruined fingers as Professors Flitwick, McGonagall, Quirrell, Snape, and the school nurse Madam Pompfrey burst into the bathroom. The adults stared at the Troll's still smoking corpse for a moment before as one they looked over at the students. Upon seeing the state of Harry's right hand, all of their eyes widened and Quirrell fainted for a second time that night.

"What happened here?!" Professor McGonagall asked in a tone that clearly stated she wanted answers and that they better be truthful ones. Madam Pompfrey had meanwhile seemed to teleport over to Harry's side and was fussing over his hand as she reached into the bag that was hanging from her shoulder.

Hermione swallowed and sensing that she really shouldn't leave anything out on this said "I was in here all afternoon since I didn't want to talk to anybody after something Ron Weasley said. I was just getting ready to go up to Gryffindor Tower when Harry suddenly came in and said that there was a troll coming and that we had to get out of here. But the troll came and blocked our way out. Harry tried to somehow push it with his magic but that didn't seem to work. He then tried to hit it on the head with one of the sinks. When that didn't work he used some kind of lightning spell but that didn't work either. Next thing I know, Harry's glowing like a beacon and this three inch wide stream of lightning is coming out of his fingers."

Madam Pomfrey blinked and said "Glowing? And it was three inches? Are you sure it wasn't one inch?"

Hermione swallowed again before she nodded and said "It was as wide as the three fingers he had straight."

This had Madam Pompfrey muttering under her breath about students going overboard with their magic.

"So," Professor Snape sneered "Mr. Potter got arrogant and decided to take on a mountain troll by himself did he? Good to see he learned of the consequences of such foolishness."

"Severus-" Professor McGonagall started but before she could get started on verbally ripping the potions master a new one she was interrupted by Harry as he said "I think you need new ears professor. Hermione clearly said I came looking for her, not the troll. Now why don't you shove that condescending attitude up your arse and back off! I don't know what your problem with me is, but I just took out a twelve foot mountain troll, which just so happened to have wanted to kill me and Hermione, and I am NOT in the mood to take any of your bitching right now!"

Everyone's eyes bugged out before Severus growled and said "Why you little-" His wand was out in a flash but was stopped short by Madam Pomfrey as her voice cut through the air.

"You hex this student Severus and I'll have you in the hospital for a year! Now stand down! This boy has just completely fried his fingers trying to save this girl and I will not have you compounding the problem. The boy's pain is obviously the one talking right now and I don't want you encouraging him. Now if you're not going to be contributing to this little conversation I suggest you leave."

'Damn, I need to remember not to get on this woman's bad side.' Harry thought as the healer glared at the professor hard enough to smash diamonds to bits. Said teacher sneered before he bit out "Fine." He then turned and strode out of the bathroom with his robes flapping.

McGonagall watched him go with a hard look on her face before she turned to look back at her two lions. Features softening, she said "Mr. Potter, I must congratulate you on your quick actions. While you were unsuccessful in getting to Miss Granger in time to get her out, you showed a bravery that does your house proud. For that, and an extreme amount of dumb luck, I am awarding you fifty points. However, your disrespect towards a Professor cannot be ignored, so I'm taking away five points." Harry nodded his head before he winced as the school's nurse began rubbing an ointment over his fingers. Turning to Hermione, McGonagall frowned as she said "Miss Granger, I am very pleased that you were unharmed during all of this. Don't worry about Mr. Weasley, he and I shall be having words about how he treats others." Turning to Madam Pomfrey, she said "Well Mr. Potter be alright Pomfrey?"

"His magic superheated his fingers to the point of fusing them together, and his nerves, what's left of them, are completely shot." Madam Pomfrey stated with a snort as she put a temporary bandage over said fingers. Tying it off, she continued "I need to get him to the infirmary to separate them and regrow the nerves. It's going to be a rather uncomfortable night for him, but he'll be rather close to normal by the morning. The tricky part is going to be getting his fingers to respond properly to his brain's commands again but that shouldn't be too hard if we do it right."

Professor McGonagall nodded and you could hear the relief in her voice as she said "Thank you Pomfrey. Get well soon Mr. Potter. Come Miss Granger, they are continuing the feast in the house common rooms." With that, she turned and walked out with the now awake Quirrell following her. Professor Flitwick swished his wand and the troll floated up a few feet before he flicked his wand and the troll floated out the door with him following. Hermione rushed to follow them but stopped at the doorway. Turning around, she said "Thank you Harry." Harry nodded and she took off after the teachers.

"Come on Mr. Potter, lets get you properly taken care of." Madam Pomfrey said as she nudged him towards the door. As the two began the walk to the infirmary, Harry thought 'Aunt Petunia's going to go spare when she finds out about this.' For some reason, that scared him more than facing the troll did.


	9. Ward Maintenance

9. Ward Maintenance

Story Start: Hogwarts Infirmary

Harry felt a few rays of sunlight hit his face and he let out a small groan from having his sleep interrupted an hour before he had to wake up to go to breakfast. Then he turned his head to avoid the classic mistake of people just waking up and forced his eyes to break open the concrete seal sleep had put on them and allowed his eyes to dart around when he didn't recognize his surroundings. He tensed before he took in the blurred form of the other beds around him and he thought 'That's right, Madam Pomfrey wanted me to spend the night in the infirmary.' Pushing himself into a sitting position, he looked over to the bedside table and saw the blurred form of his glasses and reached over to pick them up.

As he put them on, the sound of the Infirmary office door opening drew his attention and he looked up as Madam Pomfrey came in already dressed for the day with a couple of potions vials in her hands. Giving Harry a small but sincere smile, she said "Good morning Mr. Potter. How are your fingers?"

Harry looked down at the individually wrapped digits and instinctively twitched them as he said "Much better ma'am. They still feel like they fell asleep but there isn't any real pain in them anymore."

The nurse nodded in approval and said "Good well, lets get those bandages off and check them then." Setting the two potions vials down, she pulled her wand out and tapped each finger causing the bandages to untie themselves without pulling on the fingers and to shoot into the bin that was for used bandages. When she saw that the once burnt crispy fingers were now only a shade of reddish pink that was similar to what one would see when they were kept in hot water for about five minutes, she nodded in approval as she said "Looking good." She ran a quick diagnostic spell over the fingers and nodded again at the results before she pocketed her wand and turned to the vials she had brought with her.

Picking up the first potion, she handed it to Harry and said "They will be a bit sensitive for about a day so be careful with what you do with that hand. This potion will numb the new nerves so they won't hurt as much if you have to put pressure on them." Harry accepted the potion and threw it back like a shot of whiskey and swallowed. Shuddering at the taste, Harry asked "Is there a reason why any potion worth the ingredients in them taste like a four year old's attempts at cooking?"

Madam Pomfrey chuckled and said "Unfortunately, most potions can't have their recipes changed around too much so you can't really add anything for the taste." Picking up the second one, she held it up for Harry to see and said "This is the wizard version of an antibiotic. When you have breakfast today have half and take the other half during dinner. " Harry nodded and Madam Pomfrey put it back on the bedside table before she pulled the screen around the bed closed to allow the boy privacy to change and headed back into her office.

Harry wasted no time in getting changed out of the pajamas Madam Pomfrey had given him last night and into the clothes Professor McGonagall had thoughtfully had the castle's house elves bring down for him the night before. Momentarily wondering if he could ever actually catch sight of one of the sneaky little helpers, he shook his head from those thoughts before he pushed the privacy screen back. Putting the antibiotic potion in his robe pocket, he walked over to the used laundry bin and dumped the pajamas in before he went to the office and thanked Madam Pomfrey before he headed up to the tower to get what he needed for Potions class after breakfast.

Twenty minutes later he was making his way back down with plans of reading ahead in his Potions book as he waited for breakfast. As he entered the mostly empty room, he noticed everyone in there, mostly Ravenclaws with the same idea as him, look at him before they all broke into whispers. Frowning, he made his way over to his table. Sitting down and pulling out his book, he let out a sigh and thought 'Looks like the rumor mill is working just fine.'

He wasn't reading for five minutes before he heard one of the Ravenclaws get up from their table and sit down opposite of him. Frowning, Harry looked up and noticed that it looked to be a fifth year that had come over and said "Yes, can I help you?"

The Ravenclaw, a girl with black hair and stormy grey eyes bit her lip for a moment before she said "Is it true you killed the troll that got in last night?"

"Yup." Harry said looking down and flipping to the next page before he continued "And before you ask, no, I won't go into details. Suffice to say, electricity and water really do not mix well."

He knew the Ravenclaw blinked as she said "Okay?" before she shook her head and went back to her table. Harry sighed before he jumped as he 'felt' the mental link between him and his aunt open and he heard _'Harry, I just got the letter from McGonagall. Are you and the girl alright?'_

Getting his heart rate under control, Harry swallowed before he sent back _'We're both alright now. I had to overload the lightning spell in order to kill the troll though and it completely fried three of my fingers. Thankfully Madam Pomfrey was able to heal them.'_ As much as he wanted to avoid telling his aunt about that he knew he shouldn't since if McGonagall had sent a letter than she probably knew everything anyway and it was best not to be caught omitting such important facts.

He felt his aunt frown and heard _'Yes, Minerva said something about that. How bad was it?'_

'_Bad. My fingers had fused together. I had thought you were kidding when you told me the lightning spell should never be overloaded unless I wanted to lose a finger or two. Now I know what you had meant.'_ Tilting his head in confusion, Harry sent _'Speaking of which, why was it only my fingers that got damaged and not the rest of my arm? If the magic current is traveling through the entire arm, shouldn't it have been burned as well? Not that I don't mind it not being burned mind you."_

His aunt sighed in what had to be exasperation as she sent '_It's because of the nature of the spell. For the most part, your just pushing magic down your arm. It's only when you get to the fingers that you actually split your magic in the necessary manner to create the lightning. You know this.'_

Harry slapped his forehead and sent _'I can't believe I forgot that.'_

He swore he heard his aunt chuckle before she sent _'Now that we have that out of the way, I've got to know: __**WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!**__'_ Harry yelped drawing attention to him as he held his ears as he reflexively tried to block out the sound that left his head ringing. _'Do you have any idea how much of a heart attack Minerva's letter gave me? What part of your Defense book that says "Do not ever go against any kind of troll by yourself." do you not understand?'_

'_In my defense, I wasn't looking to take it on, I was trying to get Hermione away from it.'_ Harry sent back only to flinch as Petunia sent _'And you couldn't have just augmented your speed to get her out?'_

'_The thing was blocking the only way out. How could I do that?'_ Harry asked. Silence was his answer and Harry thought he might have won the round before his aunt sent him an image of him levitating the thing's club and using it repeatedly like a baseball bat to knock the thing out of the way and then him blurring out of the bathroom with Hermione on his back. Blinking, he sent _'Okay, maybe I _could _have handled it a little differently.' _

'_Maybe? Try should have.'_ Petunia sighed before she sent _'Either way, the two of you are safe now so that's all that really matters on that front. Dumbledore's got a lot of explaining to do though. Hogwart's wards should have kept that thing out. But I'll deal with him later. For now, try to stay out of trouble alright?'_

'_Yes Ma'am.'_ Harry sent and he felt Petunia nod as she sent _'See you soon Harry.' _and then closed the link.

Harry didn't have to wait long to find out what his aunt had planned for Dumbledore. He just had to get through his double period of mental torture. Potions had been almost unbearable with Snape doing his best to get Harry to lose control of his temper so that he could give the boy detention for what happened last night. Thankfully, Harry was very well trained in keeping his temper in check and knew what the greasy git was doing and so pretty much had his magic locked up under Gringotts' deepest vaults.

After that practical lesson on anger management, Harry made his way into the Great Hall and sat next to Hermione when she waved him over. Raising an eye at the book she had, he said "Elemental Magic for Beginners? Hermione, you do realize that copies of that book are recommended for seventh years right? I mean sure, sensors and those trained by them can use a lightning spell, but it isn't true lightning. It's just splitting your magic in a certain way that allows us to use our body's bio-electricity."

Hermione blinked at the information filing it away before she blushed at his question and said "I just wanted to know how you did it." Frowning, she looked down at the book and said "It's just as well, since I can't make heads or tails of what this book says."

"Hence why it's for seventh years." Harry said closing the book.

Hermione frowned but didn't say anything in response. Harry looked up from where he had been grabbing half of a ham sandwich and turned to her in confusion only to look where the bushy haired witch and pretty much everyone else was. He raised an eyebrow when he saw an owl coming in bearing a red envelope and wondered who was about to get a stern talking to. He and everybody else in the hall gaped like fish out of water when the owl landed in front of the esteemed headmaster.

Said man frowned at the fact that someone had sent HIM a howler but had quickly opened it anyway. After all, it was a well known fact that if you didn't immediately open a howler, it's rather loud base volume got even louder the longer it remained unopened. And heaven help the fool who waited long enough for the thing to ignite. Everyone had just enough time to clap their ears shut before Petunia's voice rang through the Great Hall loud enough to shake the rafters making everybody wince at the way louder than it should be volume.

"_**ALBUS PERCIEVAL WULFRIC BRIAN DUMBLEDORE! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! I WOULD THINK THAT YOU WOULD CARE ABOUT THE SAFETY OF THE STUDENTS THAT ARE UNDER YOU'RE PROTECTION ENOUGH TO MAINTAIN THE WARDS AROUND THEM TO KEEP THEM SAFE. INSTEAD I LEARN THAT A TROLL, A MOUNTAIN TROLL NO LESS, GOT IN AND NEARLY KILLED ONE OF THE STUDENTS! YOU BETTER GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER AND GET THOSE WARDS LOOKED AT BY A PROFESSIONAL TEAM OR SO HELP ME GOD, I WILL MARCH UP TO THAT CASTLE AND I WILL BEAT YOUR ASS FROM ONE END OF THE GROUNDS TO THE OTHER AND THEN DUMP YOU IN THE FOREST. STOP ACTING LIKE A GENERAL WHO ACCEPTS CASUALTIES DURING WAR AND BEGIN ACTING LIKE THE PERSON WHO HAS BEEN ENTRUSTED WITH THE NEXT GENERATION THAT YOU ARE! YOU HAVE UNTIL THE FIRST QUIDDITCH MATCH TO GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER BEFORE I WRITE TO MADAM BONES AND HAVE HER GET INVOLVED. AND BELIEVE ME, YOU WILL NOT LIKE THE RESULTS IF THAT HAPPENS!"**_

Tirade finished, the letter ignited before it exploded with the sound of a cherry bomb sending embers out that quickly died before they could burn anything.

As the students lowered their ears, Hermione and the other muggle born students began asking everyone else just what the hell that thing was. They hadn't known why everybody else was clapping their ears but were bloody glad they had done the same. As Hermione lowered her own hands from her ears, she had a wide eyed look as she said "What _was_ that?"

"A howler, and a modified one at that if the volume was anything to go by. Aunt Petunia was pretty pissed when she got Professor McGonagall's letter this morning telling her about what happened last night." Harry said before he took a bite out of his sandwich.

Hermione stared at him in surprise as she said "That _thing_ was sent by your aunt?"

"Yup." Harry said cheerfully before he reached over to the pickle dish and slipped one of the smaller pickles into the remainder of his sandwich and finished it in a mega chomp. Chewing three times and swallowing, he said "Just be glad Aunt Petunia is a sensor and not a witch. If she was, she'd probably turn Dumbledore inside out and then toss him into the lake. As it is, I imagine she's going to throw him around a little if those wards aren't up to spec before she comes to watch the first Quidditch game."

Hermione gaped at him before she shook herself and said "But he's the Supreme Mugwump, Chief Warlock and the Headmaster!"

Harry rose an eyebrow and said "And? Aunt Petunia is the best sensor currently on this side of the pond. She takes the duties that comes with that title very seriously, chief among them is making sure that any wards she knows about are at their full potential. Unfortunately for Dumbledore, the events of last night tell her that the wards around this school are now sorely lacking. It is her responsibility, heck, it's every sensor who has ever gone here's responsibility to make sure the protections are up to date if you would. Hermione, you have to understand, even though a sensor may not be able to use wand magic, they are still an integral part of the magical community. They indirectly prevent wards around important properties from completely collapsing which could in turn possibly cause any buildings they protect to be destroyed. They also act as safety inspectors for certain products making sure any charms and enchantments are done right. If they didn't do this, everything could potentially go to hell in a hand basket. That's why it wouldn't surprise me if Aunt Petunia goes ape on Dumbledore if he doesn't get the wards fixed. Having wards that are supposed to protect the next generation of witches and wizards yet are so weak that a troll, one of the dumbest creatures out there can actually get in means that they are seriously close to failing. And considering how old the wards are, when they do go, you can kiss this castle goodbye."

Hermione blinked, not realizing that sensors, who really made up less than five percent of the global magical population played such a large role in their world. She then paled at what Harry was saying and her eyes darted around in worry as if she could actually see the wards and how weak they were. Seeing that his point had been made, Harry got up from his seat and walked out of the hall with plans to put his bag in his trunk and go flying. With them now in November he needed to get used to flying in cold weather before the first Quidditch game that would happen in a week on Saturday.

Dumbledore apparently took Petunia's threat very seriously because the very next day, two teams, one made of curse breakers, the other of highly trained ward crafters, came to the school and began going over the school's wards with such a degree of efficiency that Harry thought they might as well be robots with human skin over them. Although considering just what their current jobs were he wasn't all that surprised. What had surprised him was when one of the team members took one look at the wards and actually _fainted_. Considering the look of absolute horror on the man's face before he fainted that Harry could see even from where he was flying around on his broom, he was fairly sure that this was the sensor that the teams were going to use to make sure they did their job to the best of their abilities.

Once they were done with their initial findings, everyone was treated to the sight of that same man tearing into Dumbledore for letting the wards get as bad as they were within the five years after he had graduated. Everyone swore that the old man was blushing even as his shoulders began to hunch up. Once he was finished ripping his old headmaster a new one the sensor walked back over to his team leader and began a discussion about what new wards he felt should be put in with the leader nodding his head in obvious agreement every once in a while.

After that rather eventful day, the two teams had gone into overdrive and over the next ninety six hours of almost nonstop work had ramped up the strength of the wards and added even better ones over them. Where before the castle's defenses were full of holes, now it could take a full on assault and shrug it off. The interior wards were just as impressive. They could pick up if anyone's bio stats didn't match their magic core. In layman's terms, they could pick up if someone was using polyjuice potion. They could also detect any use of the Unforgivables. And the most impressive in Harry's book, was the fact that they could detect a possession and if it was done by anything that was over an acceptable range of 'threat levels', it would automatically kick in and exorcise then eradicate the bastard.

The seventh year Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff class found that out first hand when the wards were brought up. Fifteen seconds before their activation, the sensor had walked into the classroom and said "I don't know who you are pal, but I hope you enjoyed your time here." Everyone looked at him in confusion before they all heard a whine fill the air and Professor Quirrell was suddenly turned into a tesla coil made of light as a wraith of some kind was forcibly drawn out of him. The sensor gave a cheerful wave to the raging spirit before the whine grew to the level of a muggle jet engine causing everyone to cover their ears as the wraith gave a pain filled scream before it suddenly burst apart into streams of darkness that rapidly faded away.

Smirking as the whine died down and Professor Quirrell was released from the wards and dropped onto the ground panting, he said "And that children is why you never possess anyone who could potentially come into contact with one of us sensors." Walking over to the panting defense professor, he said "You alright there?"

The defense professor looked around him in confusion and said "Where am I?"

"Hogwarts. You had been possessed by a rather nasty spirit. What's the last thing you remember?" The sensor asked.

Quirrell held his forehead in pain for a moment before he said "I was in Albania tracking down a nomadic vampire clan hoping to get some information from them for my new book since rumor had it that they had completely done away with drinking human blood and instead drank only animal blood. I wound up coming across this weird snake with red eyes and the thing attacked me. After that, I woke up here."

"Well, whatever was possessing you is gone now. Come on, let's get you to the infirmary and make sure there weren't any lasting effects, I'm Ryan by the way. Oh guys, class dismissed." The now identified sensor said as he helped Quirrell to his feet and began walking him out calling the last bit over his shoulder at the stunned class. Unknown to everyone, that particular spirit had an insurance policy of sorts and so wouldn't be staying gone for long. It definitely would never try possessing a Hogwarts staff member again though.

Word of Quirrell's possession spread throughout the castle like wild fire so it was no surprise when the man asked for a week off to get back in sorts. He had agreed to continue teaching defense but no one got possessed for over three months and just walked away from it. Thankfully to everyone's relief, the man's stuttering was now no where to be seen. Turns out even unaware of what was going on around him the man's subconscious had been putting up one hell of a fight against whatever it was that had been possessing him which had led to the man barely making any sense half the time. Meanwhile, a paper pusher auror was brought in to teach the class for that week

That night, Albus Dumbledore sat behind his desk brooding as he considered the day's events. He had known Quirrell had been possessed, but lets face it, when the wraith of a mass murderer just walks into your domain when for the past ten years you had no idea where it was, you tend to want to keep it close no matter what. Dumbledore suddenly blinked at that thought before he cleared a few papers from his desk. He then drew his head back and slammed it down on the desk, HARD. Slowly raising his head, he cocked it as something in his mental psyche shifted just a _little_ bit to the left and he did it a second time. Now seeing stars, but feeling so much more mentally correct, he thought 'Petunia was right. I've been seeing all of this like a general, not a headmaster.' On his perch, his phoenix familiar, Fawkes chirped at him in concern but he waved him off as he shook his head clear and began penning a note to send to his old friend in the morning. The prototype in the third floor corridor was putting his students at an unacceptable risk, he needed to send it to his friend since Gringotts clearly couldn't keep it safe either. Frowning, he thought 'I should see Madam Pomfrey in the morning and have her check me for any kind of long lasting compulsions. I've allowed myself to slip way to far for my comfort.' Chuckling to himself, he thought 'Trust a sensor to always point you in the right direction.'

Author's Notes: Alright guys, after this chapter the pace of the story is going to temporarily pick up pace. You have been warned.


	10. REALLY UNFORTUNATE AN

(Apparent) Computer Suicide

Hey guys, bad news I'm afraid. It would seem that my laptop has decided to end it's life because I just tied to turn it on and the light at the bottom didn't even turn on. Which really sucks because I had finally passed the five page mark on my Time Traveling Prince chapter that I had been having so much trouble with. And since I can't transfer anything to my new desktop without it on, all of my current stories are going to have to be put on hiatus of an unknown time until I can get THAT worked out at the computer store. Still, I'm not about to leave you hanging if I can help it, so keep an eye out for a little something that I just thought of two days ago. FE Awakening fans will probably get a kick out of this one I'm sure: Lv. 20 Grandmaster Sasuke Uchiha.


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